Ötzi .....and the first real Christmas markets.

Ötzi, the 5000 year old Copper Age mummified man was found by hikers in the 90s exposed when a  glacier was in partial melt during a particularly warm spell. Apparently it was caused by dark sand from the Sahara desert being deposited on the glacier after a huge sandstorm thousand of miles away.
Most people have heard about him (documentaries, National Geographic stories etc) and as it happens he is housed in an excellent museum only a couple of hours drive from MdC so we thought it would be worth a look............and they have fantastic Christmas markets there as well!

Christmas markets...just after a mug of warm Glüwien!

We had a very Christmassy time at the markets....munching on street food (hot chips with melted cheese & bacon bits, ham with melted cheese on warm buns - all very low cal!) drinking Glüwein and admiring the wares. 

I must say however, that the story of Ötzi we experienced in the museum is as fantastic as it is incredible. 

A husband and wife team were hiking on the glacier at about 3200 metres when they came across this object sticking out of the melting ice. They decided it needed to be reported to authorities which they did but unfortunately amateurs decided to dig him out before a professional team of archeologists was able to ensure the scene was explored properly. 

How he was discovered in the early 1990's

His mummified remains...pretty much as we saw them in a special refrigerated room.

When he was eventually removed to a proper scientific establishment and examined by a forensic team they found he wasn't a deserter from the First World War as first thought, or a lost herdsman from centuries ago caught in a blizzard but in fact a perfectly preserved example of a Copper Age man from over 5000 years ago!

Since his discovery, he has been studied in great detail providing an incredible amount of information about how people lived in those days. His clothing and tools/ weapons are fashioned with some sophistication, including exceptionally fine stitching and use of wood, grass, bone and leather.  His diet and health showed that he had the same issues as modern man including high cholesterol, lactose intolerance and arthritis in his knee and ankle joints. We could see where he used tattoos to try and alleviate the pain.

A life size interpretation of how he might have looked. The scientists are pretty sure that given all they know about him that it is a realistic model.

The fact that we could actually see, close up, this person from 5000 years ago through a window in his icy capsule was quite an experience. There is even evidence that he was murdered and he was trying to escape his pursuers through the high pass. A cracked eye socked, a deep gash on his hand and, the dead giveaway ......an arrow head lodged in his back!

But, our time in MdC is coming to a close and we are setting off early tomorrow on the next stage of our trip. Mike and Wendy are off to Ireland and we are heading to Florence on the fast train. We will meet up again in a week's time in Reykjavik, Iceland.

They tell me it is not as cold in Iceland as here....but we'll see. The picture below gives an idea of the local temperatures over the past few days.