(Image: EURAC Institute for Mummies and the Iceman)
When peering at these magnified blood cells, you鈥檙e not just looking closer than the naked eye can 鈥� you鈥檙e also looking through the mists of time. The dark areas on the cells show bruising that occurred over 5000 years ago, when 脰tzi the iceman met his end on the Schnalstal glacier in the Alps.
脰tzi seems to have died just hours after sustaining serious injuries in hand-to-hand combat. Now Frank Maixner from the in Bolzano, Italy, and Andreas Tholey from Kiel University in Germany have found evidence that he received a blow to the forehead that caused his brain to knock against the back of his skull.
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To avoid damaging the iceman鈥檚 head, the blood cell samples were extracted through tiny holes that already existed. By investigating the cells鈥� proteins, the researchers were able to see a snapshot of 脰tzi鈥檚 last hours.
鈥淒NA is always constant, regardless of where it originates in the body, whereas proteins provide precise information about what is happening in specific regions within the body,鈥� says Tholey.
鈥淲hen you think that we have succeeded in identifying actual tissue changes in a human who lived over 5000 years ago, you can begin to understand how pleased we are.鈥�
脰tzi has already been photographed more than the most paparazzi-loved celebrity 鈥� the Iceman photoscan website puts many of these images online.
Journal reference:
Clarification: When this article was first published, it referred to 鈥渂rain cells鈥�, rather than blood cells from the brain.
