September 19, 1991, was a sunny day in the Italian Alps. As two hikers returned to their camp, they made a remarkable discovery: a mummy sticking out of the ice! It had been preserved in the snow for 5,300 years. This month marks the 25th anniversary of the find.
Nicknamed Ötzi after the region in which he was found, the Iceman is like no other mummy, says Albert Zink. He’s the head of the EURAC-Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Italy. For example, Ötzi is the only mummy ever found in the Alps. He’s also about 2,000 years older than Egyptian royal mummies like King Tutankhamen.
Ötzi’s burial in snow and ice shortly after his death kept his body from decaying and his tissues from fully drying out. That means he’s one of the best-preserved mummies ever found. This has allowed scientists to piece together a thorough story of the Iceman’s life and death. From his DNA, they found that he had brown eyes and brown hair. He was about 46 years old when he died—pretty old for humans living at that time. Ötzi also had a lot of gear that showed he was a hunter (see "Ötzi’s Tools").