opposite page A striking reconstruction of Ötzi in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. He is shown with replicas of some of the kit and clothing found with him, including an unfinished bow. left The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano. below This digital table allows visitors to

Ötzi’s one-man show

On 19 September 1991, two hikers made an alarming discovery high in the Alps. Travelling off the beaten track, they saw a human corpse in a gulley, and imagined they had stumbled across an ill-fated mountaineer. Instead, this was just the latest twist in an extraordinary murder mystery. Investigators soon realised that the victim had met his fate in prehistory. Now, over three decades on, the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology is showcasing the vivid light shed on Copper Age life thanks to the study of this man and his possessions. Richard Hodges reports.

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World Archaeology

November 14, 2022

Archaeology museums can be the driest dust that blows. Too often exhibits and their captions speak to the profession and not to the public. That’s what makes the museum dedicated to ‘the find of the century’ – the iceman discovered at 3,210m close to an Alpine pinnacle and christened Ötzi – so special. Modern museology and science, along with cases of extraordinary objects, bring this serendipitous Copper Age discovery vividly to life. Which brings me at once to the arresting one-to-one model of the 45-year-old Ötzi himself. Standing alone in a white room with his bow, quiver, and mountaineering kit, he may be small but there is something disturbingly real about him as he half tu

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