The latest research by scientists found that the Iceman mummy found in the Alps 5000 years ago was murdered. Can new technology really uncover the truth about the bizarre death of Iceman 5000 years ago?

Murder five thousand years ago.

—— compiled by Fang Lingsheng

The death of the Iceman is vague.

199 1 year, in the rocky Oates Valley in the Alps on the border between Italy and Austria, two hikers discovered the Iceman who had been mummified. Since then, scientists have used all kinds of modern advanced equipment and their wisdom to solve the mystery of the life experience of the Millennium Iceman (also known as Oates). The iceman is short and strong, in his forties. In his time, he should be an old man. From the bronze axe he is holding, we can guess that he is a man of considerable status. He wore three layers of clothes, deerskin shoes, a dagger and flint. However, for a person who enters the vast wilderness, he is obviously ill-equipped: the arrows in the deerskin bag are all semi-finished and finally not finished. It seems that he has just used up all the arrows and is rushing to replenish them. Why is this happening?

Scientists once guessed from their understanding of him that the season when he was killed was at the turn of late spring and early summer, and yellow flowers were in full bloom in the valley. He hurried in the familiar Woods, and the injury of his right hand made him frown from time to time, and occasionally stopped to listen to the footsteps behind him. When he ran up the slope, the yellow pollen of rhinoceros horn fell like invisible rain. When he stopped to rest and eat, pollen fell into the water and food he drank. Today, 5000 years later, this Neolithic ancient human, known as the "Iceman", still has traces of ancient pollen in his body, recording the time when the Iceman crossed the forest and ran to the nearby mountains. The fate of death caught up with him in the snowfields of the Alps.

Ancient crime scene

There are too many unexplained mysteries in The Iceman. 17 years later, scientists dissected the body of the iceman and made X-rays. And made various speculations about his life experience. He was described as a lost shepherd, a shaman, a victim of a religious ceremony, and even a strict vegetarian. However, in May 2007, scientists discovered some amazing facts about the Iceman. Although it is impossible to know exactly what happened on the alpine ridge that year, it is certain that he was murdered and died soon, in the shallow rock recess where his body was found.

Klaus ogle, a paleobotanist at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, said: "Five years ago, people thought that the Iceman fled there and died in the cold of ice and snow, but now the research has come to a completely different conclusion. This is more like an ancient crime scene. "

Since 1998, the Iceman has been kept in an archaeological museum in Italy, and scientists have been constantly revealing amazing facts about his life with new scientific and technological means. For example, scientists led by Wolfgang Mahler, a scientist from London University, analyzed the teeth of the Iceman with advanced isotope analysis methods, indicating that the Iceman may grow in the Italian Isacco Valley, and the isotope level in his bones is the same as that in the Senares Valley and the Alps further west. Mahler's team also found a trace of mica flakes in the stomach of the Iceman, which may be occasionally mixed with grain ground by a stone mill and eaten in the stomach. These mica sheets belong to geological age and only exist in a limited area of Venosta Valley. The last journey of the Iceman's life probably began in this area, near the intersection of the Adige River and the Senares River in Italy today.

Iceman's fingernails showed that he was in poor health when he set off for the mountains. In the last six months of his life, he was ill three times, the last time was two months before his death. The doctor found parasite eggs in his stomach, so he may have stomach trouble, but it is not serious enough to eat.

In 2002, Franco Rollo of Camino University in Italy and his colleagues analyzed a small amount of food residues in the iceman's stomach and found that the iceman had eaten wild goats and some plants one or two days before his death. His last meal was red deer and some cereal.

In addition, botanists also use the analysis of pollen and plant fragments in the Iceman to determine the final whereabouts of the Iceman. James Dickenson of the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom identified 80 different bryophytes in and around the Iceman. All these evidences show that the last journey of the Iceman started from the low-lying coniferous forest in the south, where rhinoceros horn trees were in full bloom in spring, but he didn't run directly to the mountains. In the iceman's stomach, pine pollen was found above and below the hornbeam pollen, indicating that he climbed into a higher coniferous forest, then went down to a lower hornbeam forest, and climbed into a pine forest in the last day or two of his life. Why is this? Nobody knows. Maybe he is trying to bypass the steep forest in senas Valley, especially in the case of desperate escape.

When he reached a mountain pass, he might have stopped to have a rest. He climbed up two kilometers from the valley below, and there was a desolate glacier in the north. Maybe he thinks this shallow hole can keep out the wind and snow. We don't know whether the enemy chasing him stopped him here or ambushed him there in advance, but what is certain is that he didn't walk out of the cave alive.

Clues under modern science and technology

In June, 20001year, Paul Gostner, director of radiology department of bolzano Central Hospital, found that his sternum fracture was an old injury and had no research value, but he found a strange foreign body in his left shoulder. Together with Higuard Virgil, director of the hospital pathology department, he compared the X-ray and CT scans with those of scientists in Innsbruck, Austria. A triangular shadow and a stone arrow were found under the left scapula of the Iceman. This "accidental discovery" cleared the fog of the mysterious death of the Iceman 5000 years ago and uncovered the truth of the most bizarre murder case in archaeological history.

In 2005, after obtaining a new high-resolution multi-slice CT scanner in bolzano Hospital, the researchers decided to re-examine the Iceman with this new CT. In August, 2005, the Iceman was placed on a special foam mattress, which was covered with a layer of thermal insulation pad and a pile of ice. Under the escort of the police, the Iceman was quickly taken from the museum to the hospital by ambulance. The whole process only took 10 minutes. After arriving at the hospital, the Iceman was pushed into the CT room at the usual emergency speed and began to scan nervously. Dr. Frank Lurie, a senior lecturer at the University of Zurich, said: "All the work must be completed before Jie Bing the Iceman, so it must be done quickly."

The results of the scan are surprising. A sharp stone, probably flint, cut an inch and a half in the Iceman's left subclavian artery. This is pumping fresh blood from the ventricle into the aorta of the left arm. It is almost certain that the severe trauma of this aorta will lead to uncontrollable hemorrhage, which will lead to rapid death. Lu Li said, "This is a fatal wound. This bleeding situation can't last for hours on the way up the mountain. "

This new medical evidence shows that the sneak attacker attacked from behind and below the Iceman, and an arrow hit the Iceman's left scapula, which is exactly where prehistoric hunters aimed to knock down their prey. The arrow penetrated the scapula and directly inserted into the arterial blood vessel. Suddenly, blood gushed out, and there was blood between the scapula and the ribs. In the last few minutes of his life, the Iceman entered a state called hemorrhagic shock in modern medicine. On this mountain 3 kilometers above sea level, his heart began to accelerate and his clothes were soaked with cold sweat. Because there is not enough oxygen to reach his brain, his consciousness becomes more and more blurred. In just a few minutes, the iceman fell down, completely unconscious.

After the Iceman fell, the harsh climate in the Alps preserved his body. The cold glacier environment is like a huge and cold blanket, which wraps the iceman. His lifeless body was preserved in this small cave where the ice and snow glaciers melted water for 5300 years until it was found.

Expose the Millennium murder case

Who killed the iceman? For what? This is the Neolithic version of the highwayman, in order to ambush the hunter and seize the prey? Or was he followed and killed by someone he knew and knew? Experts now believe that this mystery may be solved by some clues left by the crime scene. The shaft of the sharp arrow that brought a fatal blow to the iceman is missing. Someone pulled it out, but left the stone arrow on the iceman.

Iguade Virgil said: "I think the person who shot the Iceman is the person who pulled out the arrow shaft. In fact, I am completely sure of this. " In a paper published in the German Journal of Archaeology in May 2007, Virgil and his colleagues pointed out that the killer of the Iceman pulled out the arrow shaft to cover up his criminal traces. Virgil also concluded that for the same motive, the attacker would not leave any meaningful items at the crime scene when he fled, and the items that could easily be traced back to the owner, such as the copper axe, could not have been left by the murderer.

There is also a controversial hypothesis that the fatal blow of the iceman may be the result of fierce hand-to-hand combat. In 2003, Tom Loy, a late paleontologist at the University of Queensland, Australia, said that the blood of at least four people had been found on the clothes and weapons of the Iceman, but some people in academic circles were skeptical about Loy's research results.

However, the statement that the Iceman was attacked by more than four people supports the "crime theory" put forward by Walter leitner, an archaeologist at Innsbruck University. Leitner is an expert in archery and Stone Age culture. He believes that the bloody confrontation on the top of the mountain is the final outcome of the next political struggle in the valley. Competitors of the tribe to which the Iceman belongs were supposed to stab him in the valley. The wound on the Iceman's hand is evidence. After microscopic analysis, it was found that the wound had begun to heal, which indicated that the hand injury occurred long before the Iceman was fatally injured by an arrow. Iguade Virgil said: "At least a day ago, maybe two or three days ago, there must have been a battle, or a battle. The Iceman's opponent became stronger and stronger, but the Iceman didn't realize that his rule had reached the end of the road and still held on to his position. " Leitner said that after the conflict in the village, "the Iceman seemed to try to escape, but under the pursuit of his opponent, he embarked on the final journey of death".

There have been many speculations and theories about the cause of death of the Iceman before, which shows that although the current theories seem credible, they still need to be studied. After all, these inferences are based on trivial clues left in the desolate Alps-a nail, a little leftover food, and a few grains of pollen. It is based on these that scientists reproduce a mystery of the Neolithic Age and draw some amazing scientific conclusions. For more than 5000 years, the iceman lay there quietly, and his shriveled lips would never let out a moan or shout again. However, with the continuous investigation and study of the Iceman by new science and technology, it will continue to tell us a life-and-death struggle that took place in the Neolithic Age, or a new amazing killing story.