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Ötzi, the Iceman
Ötzi, the Iceman, lived during the Copper Age in the late Neolithic (c. 3300 BCE) and was murdered in the Schnalstal/Val Senales Valley, in South Tyrol. His body was preserved naturally in the ice and found by hikers some 5300 years later, in 1991.
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Bolzano, Italy.
Bibliography
- Arrazia, B. et al. The Chinchorro Culture: A Comparative Perspective.The archaeology of the earliest human mummification, accessed 14 Jun 2024.
Questions & Answers
Where can you find mummies?
- Mummification was (and in some places and certain cases still is) practiced in many parts of the world. The intentional preservation of the body is best known from the ancient Egyptian culture, but mummies have been found all over the world.
How old is the oldest mummy ever found?
- The oldest intentionally preserved mummies come from the Chichorro culture, which flourished from c. 9000 to c. 3500 years ago in modern-day Chile. The complex mortuary practices of this culture that produced the first intentionally preserved mummies date back to c. 7000-7500 years ago.
