Iceman Murder Mystery

[Pat B]

Tomorrow night(Wednesday, Oct. 26) on PBS at 8pm. An investigation of the death of the Otzi the Iceman of the Alps.

[JackCrafty]

COOL!  Thanks Pat.   

[Pat B]

It should be interesting, Patrick.  The forensics will be cool.

[criveraville]

Thanks Pat. I'm going to check it out. It sure is a fascinating subject.

Cipriano

[gstoneberg]

Thanks, I just set the DVR up to record it.

George

[Keenan]

Thanks Pat, I watched the documentary on it a while back and it was real good. I had wished that I would have recorded it then, so now I can! Shows a brutal time of existence

[Pat B]

Sorry guys. It was 9pm. Very interesting! Beyond his obvious problems it turns out Otzi had heart disease and was lactose intolerant. Go figure. This was from a guy that lived 5300 years ago, on the cusp of hunter/gather and animal husbandry/agriculture.   This mystery gets better each time they make a new finding.

[gstoneberg]

It was on at 8pm here Pat.  I sure wish they could've gotten that flint point out of him.  They talked like he had Lyme disease??  Interesting show.  Thanks for letting us know it was on.

George

[Pat B]

I'd like to have seen the point too. You could see the outline in the Xrays or CTscans. Kind of a clunky shape...but obviously did the job.

[footfootfoot]

"Why would you pull the arrow out of his back?"

Umm, because you couldn't run down to Walmart and get a new one for 3 bucks?

[Pat B]

The new theory is that someone that he knew killed him for one reason or another. The killer pulled his arrow so he wouldn't be identified as the killer. The same reason he didn't take the copper ax. The copper ax wasn't all that foreign to the killer but it would identify him as the killer if it were in his posession. I think it is amazine he was burdoned with heart disease, Lymes disease and even lactose intollerent(by product of animal husbantry) just like we are today with all our advances in medicines and treatments.

[footfootfoot]

I just finished watching it online. It was amazing. I wondered about a number of their conclusions or speculations regarding his moving up and down the mountain. There seemed to be a lot of modern lifestyle assumptions projected on Otzi.  For example when they talked about the pollen and how he went up and then down and then up again. To someone unaccustomed to travelling everywhere on foot it must seem awfully onerous. But I suspect it wasn't much different than coming home from work and then going back later that evening to see a show or go grocery shopping or whatever.

We're human, we move around a lot.

There are a number of questions I wish I could have asked those scientists.

[Parnell]

I saw that.  Good program.  I thought it was funny why these doctorate level researchers speculated on why he walked around with so many unfinished arrows, hmmm, maybe he had taken the time to cut them straighten them and new he could use them in a pinch if he lost the others that were finished?  Do have to wonder if these super academic people who study this have made an arrow before!

Lactose deficiency is the norm for most of the world's population.  The ability to digest lactose after a couple of years of age is peculiar and really only common in European genetic codes, also being a relatively modern mutation that occured after Utzi's time.

[JW_Halverson]

I thought it was funny why these doctorate level researchers speculated on why he walked around with so many unfinished arrows, hmmm, maybe he had taken the time to cut them straighten them and new he could use them in a pinch if he lost the others that were finished?  Do have to wonder if these super academic people who study this have made an arrow before!

I wonder how many of them actually can funtion on a level high enough to cook for themselves, much less run to MalWart to buy a $3 replacement arrow to hunt their food with!!!  Just a very short time ago convenience food was a gutted and plucked chicken, I know people my age (48) that can't break down a chicken for cooking.  Some because it's to complicated, others because it's too "gross".

As long as they keep putting out shows about Otzi and other stuff that helps me connect with our ancestors there is some hope for TV.  Not much, though.

[footfootfoot]

Having met and known a number of academics I don't expect they'd survive very long on their wits alone. The good news is theirs is a hobby that keeps them out of the woods and unarmed.