Some Anthropological Aspects of the Prehistoric Tyrolean Ice Man

Seidler, Horst; Bernhard, W; Teschler-Nicola, Maria; Platzer, Werner; Nedden, Dieter zur; Henn, Raphael; Oberhauser, A; Sjøvold, Torstein

doi:10.1126/science.1411539

Cited by 88 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…At the end of summer 1991, the 5300-year-old Tyrolean Iceman mummy emerged from the ablating ice field of the Tisenjoch, a saddle at 3210 m near the Italian-Austrian border in the eastern Alps (Seidler et al, 1992). The excellent state of preservation of the Tyrolean Iceman provides strong evidence for the minimum coverage of this ice field at this time, which has only recently been surpassed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Age of the Mt. Ortles ice cores, the Tyrolean Iceman and glaciation of the highest summit of South Tyrol since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum

et al. 2016

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Abstract. In 2011 four ice cores were extracted from the summit of Alto dell'Ortles (3859 m), the highest glacier of South Tyrol in the Italian Alps. This drilling site is located only 37 km southwest from where the Tyrolean Iceman, ∼ 5.3 kyrs old, was discovered emerging from the ablating ice field of Tisenjoch (3210 m, near the Italian-Austrian border) in 1991. The excellent preservation of this mummy suggested that the Tyrolean Iceman was continuously embedded in prehistoric ice and that additional ancient ice was likely preserved elsewhere in South Tyrol. Dating of the ice cores from Alto dell'Ortles based on 210 Pb, tritium, beta activity and 14 C determinations, combined with an empirical model (COPRA), provides evidence for a chronologically ordered ice stratigraphy from the modern glacier surface down to the bottom ice layers with an age of ∼ 7 kyrs, which confirms the hypothesis. Our results indicate that the drilling site has continuously been glaciated on frozen bedrock since ∼ 7 kyrs BP. Absence of older ice on the highest glacier of South Tyrol is consistent with the removal of basal ice from bedrock during the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum (6-9 kyrs BP), the warmest interval in the European Alps during the Holocene. Borehole inclinometric measurements of the current glacier flow combined with surface ground penetration radar (GPR) measurements indicate that, due to the sustained atmospheric warming since the 1980s, an acceleration of the glacier Alto dell'Ortles flow has just recently begun. Given the stratigraphic-chronological continuity of the Mt. Ortles cores over millennia, it can be argued that this behaviour has been unprecedented at this location since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Age of the Mt. Ortles ice cores, the Tyrolean Iceman and glaciation of the highest summit of South Tyrol since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum

et al. 2016

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“…It was solely based on the CT-data of a rapidly undertaken scan of the frozen mummy, which could only leave the refrigerator environment for 30 minutes. The non-invasive approach allowed subsequent morphological investigations (Seidler et al, 1992) leading, among other things, to the conclusion that the Iceman was indeed of local origin and not a translocated fake item from some other place, like Egypt.…”

Section: The Importance Of Virtual Anthropology For Anthropological Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Anthropology: The Digital Evolution in Anthropological Sciences.

Weber

Schäfer

Prossinger

et al. 2001

J. Physiol. Anthropol.

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The discovery and explanation of differences among organisms is a major concern for evolutionary and systematic biologists. In physical anthropology, the discrimination of taxa and the qualitative and quantitative description of ontogenetic or evolutionary change require, of course, the analysis of morphological features. Since the 1960s, a remarkable amount of fossil material was excavated, some of it still awaiting a detailed first analysis, some of it requiring re-examination by more developed methods. While the fossil record grew continuously, a revolution in anthropological research took place with advances in computer technology in the 1980s: a handful of innovative researchers working in specialized anthropology laboratories or medical departments developed the methodological inventory needed to extract critical information from subjects in vivo and from fossilized remains. A considerable part of this information is preserved in the physically heretofore inaccessible interior of anatomical structures. Virtual Anthropology (VA) is a means of making them visible and measurable. Thus, VA also allows access to 'hidden' landmarks; in addition, the large number of semilandmarks accessible on the form enhances the power of Geometric Morphometrics analysis. Furthermore, the density information in volume data allows manipulations such as segmentation, impossible with the real, physical object. Moreover, metric body measurements generally, and cranial measurements specifically, are also an important source of information for the analysis of the ontogenetic development of the skeletal system, and-last but not least-for clinical use (e.g. , operation planning, operation simulation, p r o t he ti c s ) . T hu s , th er e d e v el o p ed a f r u i tf u l interdisciplinary cooperation between statistics, medicine, and physical anthropology.

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“…The mummy of the Ice Man, found in the Alps in Southern Tyrol in 1991, has raised an enormous interest due to the fact that it appears to be ' the most ancient human being ever found to be virtually intact '. Therefore, it offers answers not only to anthropomorphic questions (Seidler et al 1992) but also to issues of genetic variation. To date, only one study exists based on the amplification of mitochondrial DNA G. F. F   fragments by PCR (Handt et al 1994).…”

Section: mentioning

confidence: 99%

An HLA Class‐II allele frequent in Eskimos and Amerindians is found in the Tyrolean Ice Man

FISCHER¹,

FAE²,

MANN

et al. 2001

Annals of Human Genetics

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DNA was extracted from specimens derived from the calcaneus of the Tyrolean Ice Man under sterile conditions in a laboratory, where no DNA extractions and PCR experiments had been performed before. Agarose gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining did not reveal any evidence of genomic DNA in the preparation obtained, indicating a high degree of DNA degradation. Nevertheless, we performed PCR amplifications with this sample using primer pairs specific for HLA class II alleles. HLA-DRB and DQB1 alleles were amplified in a nested PCR approach. In one of the reactions, we observed a distinct amplification product, which we directly sequenced. By comparing the obtained nucleotide sequence with a database of HLA alleles we assigned the HLA-DRB1*1402 type to the amplified sample. None of the investigators involved possesses this allele, indicating that no contamination with modern DNA had occured. The HLA-DRB1*1402 allele is extremely rare in Europe, but is common in Inuits and South American Indians and has previously only once been identified in the laboratory.

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Some Anthropological Aspects of the Prehistoric Tyrolean Ice Man

Cited by 88 publications

References 2 publications

Age of the Mt. Ortles ice cores, the Tyrolean Iceman and glaciation of the highest summit of South Tyrol since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum

Age of the Mt. Ortles ice cores, the Tyrolean Iceman and glaciation of the highest summit of South Tyrol since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum

Virtual Anthropology: The Digital Evolution in Anthropological Sciences.

An HLA Class‐II allele frequent in Eskimos and Amerindians is found in the Tyrolean Ice Man

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