THE ICEMANS LAST WEEKS

The author presents the archacological, botanical and anatomical of me dical evidence relating to the events of the last few days of the Icem an's life. The unfinished arrows and the half-completed bow indicate t hat he had lost his weapons and was in the process of re-arming himsel f. The quiver and the two primed arrows show clear signs of damage tha t has been proved to originate from before entombment in the ice of Ha uslabjoch. An intravital series of fractured ribs and atrophic changes to the humerus on the same side of the body are also indicative of a violent conflict. The presence of threshing and winnowing fragments pr oves that, shortly before his death, the Iceman spent some time in a h uman settlement in which the grain crop was threshed. The theory is th erefore proposed that shortly before his death the Iceman suffered som e personal catastrophe involving damage to his possessions and physica l injury. He fled in the direction of the inner Otz Valley, a region o f high alpine pastures he may have been familiar with from summer tran shumance. Just beyond the ridge of the main Alpine chain he was caught by a sudden fall in temperature and snowfall, which he did not surviv e.