Ötzi Is The World's Oldest Wet Mummy

Because he can be seen as a typical European for his time, Ötzi, as the mummy has been named, has taught us a great deal about ancient humans. His corpse has been X-rayed, dated, DNA-analyzed, and even 3D printed. We know what he was wearing when he died: goatskin leggings, a sheepskin loincloth, a sheep- and goat-skin coat, a brown-bear hat, and even cow-leather shoelaces. We know his last meal: ibex meat and cereal. We know he had 61 tattoos, possibly for medicinal purposes. We also know he suffered from a hardening of the arteries, an intestinal parasite, and cavities, but fascinatingly, that's not what killed him: he had a flint arrowhead tip in his left shoulder and a traumatic head injury, pointing to murder as the cause of death. Even with all this analysis, scientists are still debating key details about Ötzi's life several decades after the mummy's discovery. Learn more about this fascinating ancient human in the videos below.