The Iceman's lithic toolkit: Raw material, technology, typology and use

PLoS One. 2018 Jun 20;13(6):e0198292. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198292. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The Tyrolean Iceman, a 5,300-year-old glacier mummy recovered at the Tisenjoch (South Tyrol, Italy) together with his clothes and personal equipment, represents a unique opportunity for prehistoric research. The present work examines the Iceman's tools which are made from chert or are related to chert working - dagger, two arrowheads, endscraper, borer, small flake and antler retoucher - and considers also the arrowhead still embedded in the shoulder of the mummy. The interdisciplinary results achieved by study of the lithic raw material, technology, use-wear analysis, CT analysis and typology all add new information to Ötzi's individual history and his last days, and allow insights into the way of life of Alpine Copper Age communities. The chert raw material of the small assemblage originates from at least three different areas of provenance in the Southalpine region. One, or possibly two, sources derive from outcrops in the Trentino, specifically the Non Valley. Such variability suggests an extensive provisioning network, not at all limited to the Lessini mountains, which was able to reach the local communities. The Iceman's toolkit displays typological characteristics of the Northern Italian tradition, but also comprises features typical of the Swiss Horgen culture, which will come as no surprise in the toolkit of a man who lived in a territory where transalpine contacts would have been of great importance. Ötzi was not a flintknapper, but he was able to resharpen his tools with a medium to good level of skill. Wear traces reveal that he was a right-hander. Most instruments in the toolkit had reached their final stage of usability, displaying extensive usage, mostly from plant working, resharpenings and breaks. Evidently Ötzi had not had any access to chert for quite some time, which must have been problematic during his last hectic days, preventing him from repairing and integrating his weapons, in particular his arrows. Freshly modified blade tools without any wear suggest planned work which he never carried out, possibly prevented by the events which made him return to the mountains where he was killed by a Southern Alpine archer.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Clothing / history
  • History, Ancient
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Mummies / history*
  • Switzerland
  • Weapons / history*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology which financed travel costs for UW, SA, SB and JP, research material, services and insurance, and by the Department of Innovation, Research and University of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano which covered the article processing charge. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.