Film: Iceman
(Films for the Humanities & Sciences, FFH 3837,60 mins.)
for: The Art of
Prof. Tina Waldeier Bizzarro
Factsheet
"Iceman" found by couple
hiking in
-with axe with blade and flint knife, marble bead, and small
leather pouch;
-flesh was brown and leathery;
-body preliminarily dated to Early Bronze Age of ca. 2000 BCE because of shape of bronze axehead
which was thought to be typical of the Bronze Age;
-Early Bronze Age of farmers/herders;
Dispute over ownership:
Question about how he
remained there:
-glaciers, like rivers, flow; Iceman found at top;
-why hadn't "Iceman" flowed down with the ice?
-body had been found protected in
rock depression between two ridges; ice there was as thick as 100 to 200 feet;
March desert storm March blew dust; dust was covered over by snow in May; body
was exposed in July by heat; by late September, glacier was melting at four
inches per day;
-more artifacts found subsequent to body: short cape (with
human hairs), bow and arrows;
-Iceman died of hypothermia, due to cold; snow shielded body
from predators.
Portrait of Iceman:
-5 '2" tall; 25 to 35 years
old; 110 lbs.; wore grass cape over robe of deer, chamois, and ibex
skins-artfully whipstitched together; size 6 leather
boots with nettled twine inside serving as sox; costume is similar to that of
Tyrolean shepherd's outfit of early 20th C.
Objects found:
-carried tassel of string (inserted through polished marble
beads)
-12 half-made arrows in leather quiver;2 feathered,
flint-tipped arrows ready for shooting, made of viburnum
and dogwood-the only two of their kind found in Neolithic period,
-wooden bow of hard yew wood--was unfinished; "fire-striker" or flint
knife/dagger with wooden handle; metal axe;
-birch berries; container with
charcoal lumps (for lighting fires); woven grass bag; wood pack frame;
-2 dried mushrooms on leather strap
(medicinal quality with antibiotic curative properties-known in folk medicine
for some time);
Botanical Finds: sloeberry (Iceman must have died in autumn
when sloeberries ripen)
-grass (only found in
from cold; wheat found on clothes
-wood of implements:
-viburnum and dogwood for arrows;
-axe handle and bow of yew -ash for knife handle -hazel for backpack or "fannypack" -lime and larch for other tools
Conservation of Iceman and
his artifacts:
-strengthen wooden items; soften leather; dry objects;
reconstruct clothing to determine the cut of clothes;
-Carbon 14 dating (approximate death of objects measured by
rate of decay)
-protein was taken from Iceman's bones to test; protein is
re-dissolved & purified; converted to Co2 by burning; stored; carbon then measured.
-two- to
three-week process
Bronze is alloy
of copper, hardened with small amounts of tin.
-appeared in
-question: was body contemporary to axe?
-axe, once examined, was determined to be made of copper and
to be over 5,000 years old
Body,
then, determined to be from ca. 3300 BCE - Neolithic Period (when first copper
appeared, often as axeheads).
-Tattoos on Iceman: made with charcoal; marks on knees, on
spine (groups of lines), and on
ankles; must
have been made by someone else; ritual meaning? clan
status? -no wisdom teeth; wear on teeth suggest diet of coarse, ground grain.
Neolithic
Settlements:
-Iceman from between
-all of these Neolithic cultures were built on shores of
lakes;
-e.g. excavations at Hornstat Hornle, Stone Age settlement: lake settlement with
reconstructed
dwelling places, built on piles; walls of
mud plaster and lath; roofs of bark; 30 - 40
persons
clustered on one site at lake shore; hunters and fishermen; -growing of crops:
grain found within layers of clothing; people used copper; -flint traded widely
by Stone Age travelers
-so. of
-Stone
Age flint mine excavated in No.
-Iceman's flint probably comes from Monte Lessini
Recently,
Neolithic sites uncovered 15 miles from where Iceman died -near Castel Uval, controls entrance to
valley near glacier pass -Iceman may have been coming from or going to Castel Uval -People at Castel Uval were farmers -Iceman:
a hunter, trader, explorer?
Excavations,
August, 1992: more extensively undertaken; found 400 more items: -piece of
Iceman's shoe sole;
-grass, grain, fruit
-human hair
-more wooden artifacts (part of
bow?), remains of fur hat--oldest ever found in
Iceman will be put on display at
Iceman--A Profile:
Lived in
lake settlement, north of Alps; member of farming community, working land with
stone, wood, and copper implements; would have herded some animals, hunted, and
fished. Perhaps one spring day, he set out on trade missions to south to
exchange pottery etc for flint; he began long journey home with approach of
winter; he lost way? the weather changed?
Hypothermia...
Film: Iceman
(Films for the Humanities & Sciences, FFH 3837,60 mins.)
for: The Art of
Prof. Tina Waldeier Bizzarro
Questions:
1. Iceman dated from what period/which culture?
Name and briefly characterize two other cultures to which he was roughly
contemporary.
2. Why were researchers surprised at the date of
the Iceman's existence?
3. Where are Iceman's tattoos? What are the
forms? Why mark/pierce one's body-speculate thoughtfully.
4. Create a short dialogue/conversation that our
prehistoric "Daniel Boone" might have had with himself on that day in
spring, as he realized what was happening.
5.
What is Carbon 14 dating? Briefly describe the process.
6.
How did the body remain relatively unscathed from the massive glacial
slides and threat of predators?