SoylentNews

takyon writes:

Before He Died, Ötzi the Iceman Ate a Greasy, Fatty Meal

We know quite a bit about Ötzi the Iceman, the 5,300-year-old individual whose remarkably well-preserved remains were found in the Italian Alps in 1991. We know that Ötzi was murdered; he was shot with an arrow that went through his armpit and into his subclavian artery. We know that he was covered in tattoos, that he had sharpened his tools shortly before he was killed, that he had a gravelly voice, that he was lactose intolerant. And now, as Laura Geggel reports for Live Science, researchers have pieced together a picture of what Ötzi ate just before he died: a hearty, fatty meal.

In a study published recently in Current Biology [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.067] [DX], researchers explain how they used microscopic techniques to analyze the contents of Ötzi's stomach; the team was comprised of experts in the studies of genetic material, fats, protein and metabolism.

[...] The team was able to identify 167 animal and plant proteins in Ötzi's stomach, and they also determined the components of his last meal: cereals made from einkorn wheat, along with red deer and ibex meat. Notably, Ötzi had also eaten a hefty serving of ibex fat; according to George Dvorsky of Gizmodo, 46 percent of his stomach contents was made up of animal fat residues.

Ötzi the Iceman.

Original Submission