Ötzi the Iceman was found in 1991 by two hikers at about 10,500 feet in Itlay¡¯s Otzi Alps area near the border between Austria and Italy. An oldest human mummy ever being discovered, his frozen body, along with many of his clothes and belongs, are perfectly preserved, giving anthropologists ideal materials to study ancient humans in the Neolithic Age. Today, Ötzi resides in a cold-storage vault in the Archaeological Museum of Bolzano in Italy.

How did he live:
The analysis of the bones shows that the Iceman lived about 5300 years ago and was in his 40¡¯s when he died. He is about 5¡¯4¡± tall.

He is found with warm clothing --- three layers of finely stitched clothes, which indicates that he might be a Shepard that was used to travel in the Alps herding his sheep. His cap was made from the fur of a brown bear. His shoes have bear-skin leather soles and the upper parts are deer leather, with woven grass and hay for extra warmth.

His copper axe was found nearby his body. Scientists had long believed that humans in Italy were melting and shaping copper with such precision only about 4,000 years ago, more than 500 years after Ötzi lived.

Other belongings found include:
• Flint dagger with ash handle wrapped with leather and a leather hoop on the sheath allows it to be fastened to a belt. It could be used to skin animals, clean hides and cut meat into strips.
• Quiver made from leather and hazelwood. It was found with two complete but broken arrows inside, together with twelve partly constructed arrow shafts.
• Tassels attached to the marble bead may have been carried in case they were needed for repair - or they may have been decoration.
• Two spherical lumps of birch fungus, which he would have used for medicinal purpose.

He had 59 tattoos on his wrists, spine, knee and ankle joints. These tattoos might be the marking of a religious leader or a religious ritual sacrifice. Or it could be marks of acupuncture, although there is no other evidence that people in Europe 5300 years ago ever practice this type of medical treatment.

What did he eat and where did he live:
An examination of the contents of Ötzi's intestine found hop hornbeam pollen. This pollen was incredibly well preserved - the cell contents still intact, meaning that it had been consumed very soon after the flowering of the plant just before the Iceman died. The hop hornbeam trees are grown in a valley to the south, some six to 12 hours away by foot from where he was found dead. This could be where his home was.

His last meal could be: unleavened einkorn wheat bread, an herb or another green plant, and meat. Because einkorn doesn't grow naturally in Europe, finding it in Ötzi's intestinal tract suggests contact with an agricultural community.

How did he die:

The researchers discovered a flint stone arrowhead embedded in Ötzi's shoulder. The arrow entered from the back of the shoulder and stopped an inch shy of the lung. This shows that the iceman might be running away from his attacker when being shot. There is no scar tissue around the wound, which indicating that the iceman died soon after the injury. Other theories include accident