Rocky, check this out! Surely iomeaga is in big trouble now:
Updated 4:54 PM ET January 16, 1998
The iceman goeth
BOLZANO, Italy (Reuters) - The frozen remains of a prehistoric
man, believed to be the oldest mummy in the world, were returned
to Italy Friday, ending a six-year custody dispute with neighboring
Austria, officials said.
The two nations have been squabbling over the 5,300-year-old
corpse since 1991 when it was found by tourists on the Similaun
Glacier in the Oetz Valley and whisked off to Innsbruck by a team
of Austrian experts.
Italy laid claim to the mummy, nicknamed Oetzi after his finding
place, after surveyors ruled it had been found some 33 feet on the
Italian side of the Oetzal Alps.
He had to be transported in a refrigerated truck to Bolzano, the
capital of Italy's Alpine Alto Adige region, under armed guard
following threats from Austrian nationalist groups upset at his
Italian repatriation.
His remains will now be housed in a special windowed refrigerator,
kept at a constant temperature of 21 degrees (Fahrenheit) and 98
percent humidity, in Bolzano's Museum of Archeology, and will go
on show to the public starting March 28.
Various articles found with his body -- a bow, axe, daggers,
leather clothing, fire-lighting equipment and a basket -- will also be
on display.
The decision to put Oetzi on show, rather than lay him to rest, has
created some controversy on both sides of the border but Luis
Drunwalder, a senior Bolzano city official, said the body would be
displayed in a "sacred atmosphere."
Experts who studied Oetzi's remains believe he died of exhaustion
at the age of about 45, and that he was about 5 feet, 5 inches tall
and weighed 88 pounds when he died.
They believe he was suffering from worms and diarrhea, as well as
arthritis -- 57 tattoos found around several of his joints were
thought to be a neolithic therapy for the ailment.
Experts say Oetzi remains the world's oldest mummy despite the
discovery of a 6,500-year-old adolescent girl in the Austrian town
of Linz, because his body was well preserved, rather than just a
skeleton. |
