Bolzano & Otzi the Ice Man

The area known as Val Senales in South Tyrol is regarded as one of the best places in Italy to ski.

From the mountain village of Maso Corto in Italy’s northernmost province you can take the Val Senales Glacier Cable Car to the highest hotel in Europe, the Glacier Hotel Grawand, which sits in spectacular isolation 3200m above sea level on the Van Senales glacier.

From the comfort of one of the hotel’s rooms or restaurant are incredible views of the Otztal Alps, one of a line of summits that forms part of the border between Italy and Austria.

The ski slopes are open from September to May in this picturesque corner or Italy, and during the summer months hikers set off on some of the 1600km of hiking trails and treks to more than 250 peaks in the region.

In 1991 German hikers Erika and Helmut Simon were doing just that, trekking on the Tisenjoch Pass at an elevation of 3210m above the Otztal Valley, when they noticed the upper part of a human body protruding from the ice.

The couple alerted Austrian authorities, who assumed the body was the victim of a mountaineering accident. The following day they attempted to extract the body from the ice, using axes and jackhammers.

Due to poor weather the body wasn’t freed from the ice for five days. It was then whisked by helicopter to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Innsbruck Medical University in Austria.

There Konrad Spindler, an archaeologist at the University of Innsbruck, examined the remains and announced the male body was at least 4000 years old.

Subsequent radiocarbon analysis performed on the body’s tissues found it was even older than that — around 5300 years old. The glacial ice had preserved it through a process of natural mummification.

The mummy was dubbed Otzi due to the place the Simons’ found him in the Otztal Alps.

His discovery was to rank as one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.

Otzi’s belongings were scattered around the body, and included a bow and quiver with 14 arrows, a leather pouch, a copper-bladed axe, a flint dagger, and fur and leather garments, providing a unique glimpse of life during the Copper Age (3500BC to 1700BC).

The incredibly well-preserved mummy was initially housed at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Innsbruck Medical University.

But when it was learned Otzi had been found on the Italian side of the Alps a mere 93m from the Austrian border, the Italian government claimed the remains.

Six-years later, Otzi was transferred to the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, a small city known as the “Gateway to the Dolomites”.

The Dolomites are a range of mountains — 18 with peaks that rise to more than 3000m — of such exceptional natural beauty they were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009.

While it’s thought Bolzano was founded around 15BC as a Roman military station, the city became a major trading hub between southern and northern Europe in the Middle Ages due to its close proximity to major trading routes, including the Brenner Pass, the lowest crossing point in the Alps.

Bolzano’s first documented market was the St Genesius market, held in August 1208, and today the city is a feast of Romanesque and Gothic architecture.

There’s a grand cathedral dating from the 12th century; tiny St John’s in Town church, consecrated in 1180; Laubengasse with its tall 13th century buildings in the city’s old town, and a 13th century Franciscan monastery.

Runkelstein Castle, dating from 1237, which sits on a rocky outcrop on the outskirts of town, was decorated with fine frescos from 1385, which you can see today.

Piazza Walther is a wide space of cafes and shops overlooked by a monument dedicated to a medieval poet, where we sip cappuccinos before heading to the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.

Here, the entire first floor of the museum is dedicated to Otzi the Ice Man and his artefacts.

The mummy lies on precision scales in a special cold cell, which is kept at a constant temperature of -6C.

For 30-years the ancient, withered corpse, which we view through a small window, has been extensively examined, measured, X-rayed and studied by archaeologists from around the world.

We learn that due to the location within the glacial deep freeze that meant Otzi’s body remained so well-preserved over the millennia, his tissue, bones and organs are also well-preserved.

Otzi is thought to have been around 45 when he died, was 1.6m tall, had dark, medium-long hair, and broke several bones during his lifetime including his nose.

He had 61 tattoos in the form of lines and crosses. As they are all located at sites on his body with considerable wear and tear it’s thought they may have served therapeutic purposes.

At first it was thought Otzi may have died in an accident on the mountain. But in 2001 an X-ray revealed a flint arrowhead in his left shoulder, after which an entry wound was discovered in his back.

The arrow severed an artery, indicating he bled to death within minutes. It is now believed Otzi was murdered.

Just as fascinating as learning about Otzi and life in the Copper Age is viewing his restored clothing and other belongings.

I study a bearskin cap, and goatskin leggings reinforced with leather strips knotted onto an additional leather strip — like stockings on a garter belt.

A copper axe is preserved intact, as is a small flint dagger, and you can see the 5000-year-old stitching on the deer hide quiver that held his arrows.

On display at the museum is model of Otzi made of silicon, synthetic resin and real hair, which was crafted by Dutch artists Andrie and Alfons Kennis in 2011 based on research conducted at the time.

The life-sized model of a short, middle-aged, tattooed man is remarkably lifelike.

Recent studies of Otzi’s genome using the latest sequencing methods reveal he may have darker skin than previously assumed, and a genetic predisposition to balding. However, the museum currently has no plans to revise the Kennis reconstruction.

All that knowledge about the past is bit much to take in over one afternoon, so we retire to the elegant bar at Parkhotel Laurin, one of Bolzano’s fine hotels, for a well-deserved glass of Santa Maddalena, a fine red wine made from grapes grown in the vineyards around Bolzano.