BOLZANO, ITALY, June 23 (DC Times Online) — A peer-reviewed study in the journal Microbiome has identified four cold-adapted yeast species on Ötzi the Iceman, adding new evidence that the 5,300-year-old mummy’s remains can preserve ancient microbes alongside modern contaminants.
Researchers at Eurac Research said they reconstructed the yeasts’ genetics from samples taken from skin, meltwater inside the mummy and stomach contents. They described Ötzi’s remains as a “dynamic biological interface” in which glacier-derived microbes and newer organisms can coexist under museum conditions.
The study also reported degraded and modern DNA fragments, which the researchers said may reflect a long preservation history at subzero temperatures after Ötzi was trapped in glacier ice. The findings do not prove every microbe on the mummy is still alive, and the paper acknowledges that some may have been introduced during discovery or later conservation.
In addition to the genetic work, the team said it cultured multiple microbe species and produced four viable ones. Three of those were reportedly able to use phenol, a compound used to prevent fungal growth, as a food source.
Ötzi was discovered in 1991 in the Alps near the Austria-Italy border and is now housed in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, in a cold cell designed to mimic glacial conditions. Museum records say radiocarbon dating places him around 3300 BC, making him Europe’s oldest known natural human mummy.
The museum says the body shows signs of a violent death, including an arrow wound that severed the subclavian artery, along with evidence of hand-to-hand combat and a cut to the right hand. It also says 61 tattoos were found on the mummy’s body.
