THE MAN IN THE ICE - A 5000 YEAR-OLD GLAC IER MUMMY FROM THE HAUSLABJOCH IN THE OTZTAL ALPS

The Hauslabjoch mummy was discovered on 19 September 1991 by Helmut an d Erika Simon, a married couple from Nuremberg, and recovered by Univ. -Prof. Dr. Rainer Henn, head of Innsbruck's Department of Forensic Med icine. The body was identified as an archeological find by the author of this article on 24 September 1991. The find, partly mummified throu gh dehydration, is a male adult aged between 25 and 35 and about 1.60 metres tall. His equipment comprises clothing made of fur which was se wn together with strips of tendon, a shoulder cape of woven grass and leather shoes. As the clothing was almost completely destroyed, it is extremely difficult to reconstruct them. Tools and weapons were also a part of the find. These comprise a carrier worn on the back, two cont ainers of birch bark, a pressure flaker, two agarics for therapeutic p urposes, a bow, a quill with contents, several flint, bone and antler artefacts, a silex dagger and sheath and an axe with a knee handle sha ft and a cooper blade. Radiocarbon tests date the find back to 3300 - 3200 BC in the Neolithic Age in Central Europe.