Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T09:59:21.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Iceman's last days – the testimony of Ostrya carpinifolia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

W. Groenman-van Waateringe
W. Groenman-van Waateringe*
Affiliation:
Wachterhof 3, 1504 CP Zaandam, The Netherlands (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The demise of the Iceman is archaeology's current long-running detective story, in which the time and mode of death have yet to be agreed. Recent discussion in these pages favoured a ceremonial burial on the mountain, following his death and the conservation of the corpse in the home village. In a new forensic contribution, the author shows that, in addition to his other woes, the Iceman might have been taking medicine in the form of bark. This in turn implies that his final adventure might have taken place at anytime between spring and autumn, leaving the burial hypothesis without constraint.

Keywords

Tyrolean IcemanOstrya carpinifolia pollenbarkmedicine
Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 328 , June 2011 , pp. 434 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boericke, W. 1979. Pocket manual of homoeopathic materia medica, comprising the characteristic and guiding of all remedies (clinical and pathogenic). Delhi: B. Jahn.Google Scholar
Bortenschlager, S., Kofler, W., Oeggl, K. & Schoch, W. 1992. Erste Ergebnisse der Auswertung der vegetabilischen Reste vom Hauslabjochfund, in Höpfel, F., Platzer, W. & Spindler, K. (ed.) Der Mann im Eis. Band 1 (Veröffentlichungen der Universität Innsbruck 187): 307–312. Innsbruck: Eigenverlag der Universität Innsbruck.Google Scholar
Capasso, L. 1995. Ungeal morphology and pathology of the ‘Iceman’, in Spindler, K., Rastbichler-Zissernig, E., Wilfing, H., Nedden, D. zur & Nothdurfter, H. (ed.) Der Mann im Eis: neue Funde und Ergebnisse (Veröffentlichungen des Forschungsinstituts für Alpine Vorzeit der Universität Innsbruck 2): 231–9. Wien & New York: Springer.10.1007/978-3-7091-6599-7_16CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carancini, G. L. & Mattioli, T. 2011. ‘The Iceman is a burial’: new remarks. Antiquity 85. Available at: http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/carancini327/ (accessed 21 March 2011).Google Scholar
Egg, M. & Spindler, K. 1993. Die Gletschermumie vom Ende der Steinzeit aus den Ötztaler Alpen, Vorbericht. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 39(1992): 3–113.Google Scholar
Egg, M. & Spindler, K. 2009. Kleidung und Ausrüstung der kupferzeitlichen Gletschermumie aus den Ōtztaler Alpen (Monographien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 77). Mainz: Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums.Google Scholar
Fasolo, R. 2011. The death and ritual deposition of the ‘Iceman’: a hypothetical scenario. Antiquity 85. Available at: http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/fasolo327/ (accessed 21 March 2011).Google Scholar
Gothe, R. & Schöll, H. 1992. Hirschlausfliegen (Diptera, Hippoboscidae: Lipoptena cervi) in den Befunden der Leiche vom Hauslabjoch, in F.Höpfel, , Platzer, W. & Spindler, K. (ed.) Der Mann im Eis. Band 1 (Veröffentlichungen der Universität Innsbruck 187): 299–306. Innsbruck: Eigenverlag der Universität Innsbruck.Google Scholar
Groenman-Van Waateringe, W. 1993. Analyses of the hides and skins from the Hauslabjoch. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums 39(1992): 114–28.Google Scholar
Groenman-Van Waateringe, W. 1998. Bark as a natural pollen trap. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 103:289–94.10.1016/S0034-6667(98)00040-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hager, H. 1977. Hagers Handbuch der pharmazeutischen Praxis für Apotheker, Arzneimittelhersteller, A¨rzte und Medizinalbeamte. Vollständige (vierte) Neuausgabe begonnen von W. Kern. Sechster Band, Chemikalien und Drogen. Teil A: N–Q. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Huntley, B. & Birks, H. J. B. 1983. An atlas of past and present pollen maps for Europe: 0-13000 years ago. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kral, F. 1979. Spät- und postglaziale Waldgeschichte der Alpen auf Grund der bisherigen Pollenanalysen. Wien: Österreichischer Agrarverlag.Google Scholar
Linskens, H. F. & Jorde, W. 1997. Pollen as food and medicine—a review. Economic Botany 51:78–87.10.1007/BF02910407CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moerman, D. 1996. American Indian ethnobotany database. Foods, drugs, dyes and fibres of native North American peoples. Available at: http://herb.umd.umich.edu/herb (accessed March 1997).Google Scholar
Moore, P. D., Webb, J. A. & Collinson, M. E. 1991. Pollen analysis. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.Google Scholar
Murphy, W. A., Zur Nedden, D., Gostner, P., Knapp, R., Recheis, W. & Seidler, H. 2003. The Iceman: discovery and imaging. Radiology 226:614–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oeggl, K. 2000. The diet of the Iceman, in Bortenschlager, S. & Oeggl, K. (ed.) The Iceman and his natural environment: palaeobotanical results: 89–115. Vienna & New York: Springer.10.1007/978-3-7091-6758-8_8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oeggl, K. 2009. The significance of the Tyrolean Iceman for the archaeobotany of Central Europe. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 18:1–11.10.1007/s00334-008-0186-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanzetti, A., Vidale, M., Gallinaro, M., Frayer, D. W. & Bondioli, L. 2010. The Iceman as a burial. Antiquity 84:681–92.10.1017/S0003598X0010016XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spindler, K. 1996. Iceman's last weeks, in Spindler, K., Wilfing, H., Rastbichler-Zissernig, E., Nedden, D. zur & Nothdurfter, H. (ed.) Human mummies: a global survey of their status and the techniques of conservation (Veröffentlichungen des Forschungsinstituts für Alpine Vorzeit der Universität Innsbruck 3): 249–63. Vienna: Springer.10.1007/978-3-7091-6565-2_24CrossRefGoogle Scholar