The Man in the Ice: human and animal coprolite analysis

New samples form different organs of the Iceman`s body have been taken recently by medicinists to conduct pollen and macrofossil analyses on the tissues as well as on the food residues from the intestines. These additional sampes will shed new light on the nutrition and environment as well as the season of death of the Iceman. With the new samples the variability of the food residue in his intestines can be included and give new aspects of his diet. Up to now it is known from one analysed specimen (Oeggl 1998, 2000) that most of his diet consists of bran. Besides this bran of einkorn (Triticum monococcum), stone cells and vessel elements prove that he also consumed other vegetables, but they could not be determined to species level because of the poor preservation. In the new samples from the stomach and the small intestine a better state of preservation is expected, because of the lesser digestion of the food. This let us suppose a better chance for the determination of new vegetative plant tissues as a component of his diet. In addition the bigger sample quantity from different locations of his intestines will result also in new aspects on Neolithic human diet. The background pollen, which is unintentional ingested pollen of airborne plants reflecting the environment, trapped in his food residue and in the mucus membranes of the nose cavities, larynx and lung will confine his where-abouts in the last days of his life. In particular the pollen analysis from the mucus membranes presents precise data for the background pollen and by this means grants a better interpretation of the background pollen in the food residue. This will also answer the question whether the frequently found Ostrya-pollen from the food residue of the first specimen was intentionally or unintentionally consumed. A sample from the stomach will show the components of his ultimate last meal and shed light on the question if the Iceman was starving and in consequence dying of exhaustion and hypothermia as has been assumed (Spindler 1996). Besides these samples lots of animal dung pellets, found at the find spot and covering a period from 4800 - 2000 BC, are used as proxidata for the Neolithic environment. The Caprine dung pellets, deriving from ibex, chamois, sheep or goat are associated with remains and artefacts from wood species, which could have been brought to the site by man`s activity only, because timberline never reached the altitude of the site and was located at 2500 m altitude during Neolithic times. In this project the dung pellets will be used as a source of information for animal management and husbandry systems from Neolithic times onwards. The approach is to separate the dung pellets by the animal diet and by the assembly of background pollen in faeces coming from wild game (ibex, chamois) grazing in the highland zones, or from livestock (goat, sheep) grazing in anthropo--zoogenic vegetation in the valley bottoms. By these means, this analysis is able to contribute to the understanding of the beginning and the existence of transhumance in the Ötztal area from prehistoric times onwards.

The coprolite analyses of four Iceman`s chyme samples shed new light on his diet, his last itinerary and the seasonality of his death. Concerning diet the pollen and plant macrofossil analyses reveal that the Iceman consumed at least three different meals in the last two days of his life. Although all meals were monotonous in their composition they represent a well balanced diet based on einkorn (Triticum monococcum), meat and other vegetables. Definitely it could be proofed that meat was a substantial part in all his meals confirming that he was neither a vegetarian nor a vegan. Much more information about the life circumstances of the Iceman is gained by the pollen analysis of the chyme samples. Evidence from the pollen content of the three meals in the Iceman`s intestines demonstrates that in his last 24 - 30 hours he ventured from alpine regions to the valley bottoms south of the alpine main range and disappeared to the alpine regions again. These results support the `disaster-hypothesis" about his demise, that the Iceman returning from the high alpine pastures to his native village came into a severe conflict with his kinship group that he had to flee from his community to the highland pasture regions familiar to him, where he died. Comparing the pollen spectra from the Iceman`s chyme samples with recent data of airborne pollen studies in SchlanderslVinschgau (1996- 2002) it is definitely shown that the Iceman made his last journey in spring and not in autumn as presumed up to now. Additionally pollen and macrofossil analyses on more than hundred caprine dung pellets collected by random sampling from the Iceman`s find spot were carried out. The object was to separate the dung pellets by animal diet and by the assembly of background pollen in faeces coming from wild game (ibex, chamois) grazing in the highland zones, or from livestock (goat, sheep) grazing in anthropo-zoogenic vegetation in the valley bottoms. The comparison with modern faeces from ibex, chamois, goats and sheep evidence that all the specimen investigated indicate grazing in alpine environments during the summertime. The same results are yielded by comparing the pollen content from the subfossil faeces with pollen spectra from an altitudinal transect across the alpine main range. This makes it most likely that all subfossil dung pellets derive from game and not from life stock. Additionally according to the absence of dung pellets in the gully between 3600 BC and 2900 BC, which includes also the lifetime of the Iceman, it is questioned that the Iceman can be connected with high alpine pastoral activities as proposed at the moment.