Science
The world’s favorite Neolithic murder mystery has taken a dark turn.
New analysis of the body of Ã?tzi the Iceman, found in 1991 in an Italian Alp crevasse where he’d fallen 5000 years ago, shows that he was attacked at least twice in the days preceding his death.
At first, Ã?tzi was believed to have died peacefully. Then researchers found an arrowhead in his shoulder, bruises on his head and chest, and a deep cut on his hand.
Doctors have now determined the chronology of the attacks: the cause of death is almost certainly the arrow wound, which caused internal bleeding â?? but while blood around the entry wound is fresh, the cut is at least several days older.
This suggests two separate attacks over a period of days, said study leader Andreas Nerlich, a Ludwig Maximilian University pathologist.
It was a rough ending for Ã?tzi â?? but at least he died in style, wearing shoes, a loincloth, belt and grass-woven cloak.
On February 18, 2009, the George C. Page Museum announced the discovery of 16 new fossil deposits under a parking lot owned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art that is adjacent to the La Brae Tar Pits. The most exciting animal in these new deposits is Zed, a large male Columbian Mammoth.
Several Columbian Mammoths that died in the La Brae Tar pits have been found since the dig began. Zed is the latest Columbian Mammoth from La Brae. We will never know exactly what drew Zed into the tar pits and an agonizing death between 38,000 and 42,000 years ago. He appears to have been washed away by a flood very soon afterwards, then was quickly covered by sediments and sand which kept predators such as wolves and sabre tooth cats from eating the carcass, scattering the bones and making off with body parts.
Zedâ??s skeleton is 80% complete and is missing only a hind leg and vertebrae. His tusks, which are enlarged incisor teeth, are intact and 10â?² long. Zed was 47 to 49 years old when he died, had previously broken three ribs and suffered from arthritis.
