“the paleo-murder mystery continues”…
Archeologists have been contemplating the death of Otzi, Europe's
oldest natural human mummy, for a long time. (Pictured left: Credit: Marek Janko/TU Darmstadt(inset) Kennis and Kennis/South Tyrolean Museum of Archaeology)
The most common thought was death
by arrow or head injury. New research of ancient proteins in “samples taken
from Ötzi's brain strongly confirms that the Copper Age man suffered a serious
head injury before his death” (Pringle. 2013).
A new study published in Cellular and Molecular Life
Sciences, looked at the proteome (entire set of proteins). They found a total
of 502 proteins, ten of which are related to blood and coagulation. This strongly
suggests major blood clots in the brain.
Even this does not conclusively tell how Otzi died. The
iceman got shot, then stumbled? As the author of the blog post from Scienceshot
suggests, maybe “he was whacked up close and personal!” . We may never know.
It is interesting to think about for those interested in
neuroscience, crime, chemistry and archeology. Don’t forget FAU Libraries have those
entire topics covered in our online databases. You can investigate by going to searchwise here:
Reference:
Pringle, H., 2013. ScienceShot: The Iceman, Death by Blood
Clot? Science Now. Online. Available http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/06/-scienceshot-the-iceman...
image credit: Credit: Marek Janko/TU Darmstadt(inset) Kennis and Kennis/South Tyrolean Museum of Archaeology borrowed form above blog posting (Scienceshot).
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