<A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2262615.stm">BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Iceman's final meal</A>

The last two meals eaten by the 5,300-year-old iceman, dubbed Oetzi, have
been revealed by scientists. Analysis of the contents of the Stone Age
human's intestines shows he probably dined on venison just before his death,
having previously consumed cereals, plants, and ibex meat. Oetzi's mummified
remains emerged from a melting glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991, since
when he has undergone intense examination. Scientists recently discovered a
flint arrowhead lodged in the ancient man's back and a deep wound in his
right hand, supporting the theory that Oetzi died following a violent
confrontation. Cold storage The iceman represents one of the great
archaeological finds of the last 25 years. His body was discovered by German
tourists trekking in the Oetz Valley - hence the name - still wearing
goatskin leggings and a grass cape. His copper-headed axe and a quiver full
of arrows were lying nearby.  Researchers have even built a replica of the
arrowhead in his shoulder



After a diplomatic dispute between the Austrian and the Italian authorities,
the body was finally transferred to the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum in
Bolzano, where it is now kept in cold storage. Two years ago, the remains
were briefly defrosted to allow researchers to retrieve and analyse items,
such as pollen and cereal grains, taken from inside the body. The resulting
data have been combined to build up a picture of Oetzi's lifestyle and final
movements and now his last meals. First and second Franco Rollo, at the
University of Camerino, and colleagues examined the DNA from the contents of
the intestines, some of which represented the trace remains of food, but also
other material, such as fungi, which invaded the body after death. "It was
very difficult," he told BBC New Online. "The whole thing took us two years.
There were only very tiny fragments of DNA and they were very degraded." The
results have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. The team writes: "According to the present DNA analysis,
the last journey of the warrior/hunter was made through a coniferous woodland
at an intermediate altitude, where he possibly had a first meal, composed of
cereals, other plant food, and ibex meat, and ended with his death in a rocky
basin at over 3,200 metres above sea level, not before his having had a
further meal based on red deer meat and, possibly, cereals." Dr Rollo added:
"We were very impressed by the quality of the meals he had. The diet of
people living at this time included rabbit, rats, squirrel - all sorts of
things. But the iceman, in his last two meals, had red deer and ibex meat. It
was a real medieval banquet!" Primitive wheat Scientists have already
established that Oetzi was about 159 centimetres (five feet, 2.5 inches)
tall, 46 years old, arthritic, and infested with whipworm at the time of
death. High levels of copper and arsenic in his hair indicate he had been
involved in copper smelting. He wore three layers of garments made from goat,
deerskin and bark fibre. He had well-made shoes and a bearskin hat. It is
believed he belonged to an agricultural community based on the cereal grains
found not just on his garments but recovered from his colon, which contained
bran of the primitive wheat Einkorn. The presence in the body of pollen from
the hophornbeam tree, which flowers in the Alps between March and June,
indicates Oetzi died in the spring or early summer. The wound in the hand
suggests Oetzi may have been engaged in hand-to-hand combat very shortly
before he died. The injury to the back of the shoulder has led some
researchers to the view that Oetzi was shot as he fled the confrontation.