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 turns to gaze at you.
I came upon him unexpectedly. He was not alone. To be fair, my mind was mulling over the previous room, which explained the unexpected discovery, after years of study, that Ötzi had actually been murdered. Ötzi was staring at a Goth, a woman in a black blouse and skirt on large roller blades with net stockings, posing directly in front of him for a selfie. Was it for a performance art photograph, I wanted to ask? Was she simply connecting across the millennia? Lacking a selfie stick, she was unable to fit her roller blades into the picture. Eying me, she gruffly called for my help. Using her cellphone, I stepped back and photographed her from the blades to her Heidi-like black mop of curling hair. Behind her posed the iceman. Behind him was his shadow, conjuring up a celestial day in the high Dolomite passes. Satisfied, the Goth glided away to the elevator and then disappeared, leaving me to the iceman’s company.
Now, this incident suggests the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano dedicated to Ötzi is little more than Madame Tussaud’s. Far from it. It is a one-man exhibition with a difference. It skilfully charts the extraordinary discovery of the iceman, then explains how he was mummified, before showing and explaining item by item what he was wearing, as well as his kit. Every item is exhibited, including his mummified body. Forensic analysis, evolving over the 30 years since Ötzi’s discovery, forms part of a narrative to confront the puzzle posed by this man and his paraphernalia. Finally, a floor is dedicated to his health and his murder, which leads to the final, white room where Ötzi stands alone. On this floor, apart from the near-human Ötzi, perhaps the most memorable exhibit is the digital table that invites you to roam across his mummified body, accessing with your sliding hand the embedded X-rays of his corpse. As easy as operating a smart phone, this scientific trickery is a cultural heritage marvel: children were mesmerised by these Copper Age bodily revelations.
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