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Iceman Murdered by Arrow in the Back
PenguinRadio writes: "The Washington Post has taken a break from the Chandra Levy case to report on a recently discovered murder of a 5,300 year old iceman. The iceman was discovered about ten years ago in the snow covered Alps near Italy, but it was unknown until today how he died. Scientists used a CT scan to discover an arrowhead embedded in his back. Being stabbed in the back is not a recent dot.com kind of thing." Somehow it's inspiring to see just how long we've been killing each other. This story is great in so many ways.
I happen to specialize in the European Bronze age. Though my main emphisis is much later. A hunting accident is not ridiculous at all. Imagin arrow knocked back, rugged terrain, and cold possibly icy conditions. A point in favour of this view would be the bones of the goat found nearby. The "iceman" could not have shot it with a dissabled arm. So a possible scenario would be the "attacker" leaving some food for the "iceman" and going to get help wich was prevented by a nasty storm. The bows of this period were short range affairs which required the hunter to get close to the game. Walking around with an arrow knocked back, would not be uncommon. This is not to imply that these weapons were primitive. They were not. In fact they were amazingly sophisticated, capable of tremendouse velocity. Also, even today, hunting accidents during archery sesson do happen, as I can personal attest. A buddy I was with, got shot in the ass by an over anxious bowman( term used loosely!) Fortunatly, the arrow had a target tip and had been slowed down by all the brush it went through. I highly recommond the study of the history of archery to anyone interested in technology. You will be astonished by the ingenuity of our ancestors.
Iceman's conversation with his hunting buddies:
Iceman: You two really are cowboys.
Hunting buddy: What's your problem, Kazanski?
Iceman: You're everyone's problem. That's because everytime you go up in the air, you're unsafe. I don't like you because you're dangerous.
Hunting buddy: That's right! Ice... man. I am dangerous.
[Thunk! Arrow in the back.]
Alex Bischoff
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
Sadly, this kind of archaeology and anthropology in the United States is effectively dead -- whatever Native First Indigenous People American Indian tribe lived closest to the site of the discovery would lay claim to his remains and a wonderful find would be lost to science thanks to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act . Fire up your Google buttons and look for the sad tale of Kennewick Man...
Learn to spell: nickel, missile, lose, solely, amendment, speech, kernel, probably, ridiculous, deity, hierarchy, versus
Was I the only one to think that, based on the headline "Ice Man" referred to Val Kilmer, killed in some freakish fashion?
Urgh. Must grab my morning coffee.
> This is probably exactly what the guy's entire problem was. He was standing there, under attack, and thinking "Gee, I wish I had something that was suitable for use as a weapon, but all I have is this copper axe."
IIRC, he was found with partially finished bow and arrows. Looks like "they" found him before he was ready for them.
Ah! Check this out.
Other pages disagree on whether or not he was a meat eater; some say that the (purported) fact that he wasn't a meat eater means that his bow and arrows were for fighting rather than for hunting.
Also of interest, his bow apparently qualifies as a "longbow". See the entries for "iceman bow" and "longbo" at this site.
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Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I think the question on everybody's mind is if Chandra Levy was kidnapped and murdered via stone arrowhead to the back, will this frozen iceman provide any forensic clues as to identify the assailant?
Hopefully the Washington Post and other major news outlets will be quick to draw conclusions.
Cheers,
levine
"Ow, I slipped and fell on my own arrow! Do I feel stupid! Well, at least nobody will know..."
Wow. They couldn't get anywhere near that detailed in the OJ Simpson case, but they can list point-for-point the assault on a dude frozen for 53 centuries. :-)
And ten years from now, new evidence will come to light. And some Italian-Austrian-Alps-area con man will claim to be Otzi's descendant, and sue for mistrial.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Copper is actually too soft a metal to be used as a weapon.
Considering several casts were made from the blade for testing, and that some were used to successfully chop wood, its not beyond the possiblilty that is was used as a tool, although its extensive use for something like that would require frequent sharpening
On the other hand, the edge would keep longer if it were used for the occaisional hack into soft flesh, and could be quite effective.
Now that evidence shows he was in some kind of conflict supports the idea that it could have been a weapon.
I do not discount the possibility that it was merely ceremonial, but to own something as useful as that for merely decorative purposes, and not have a "real" one handy for every-day use doesn't make sense.
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satire, n: 1) witty language used to convey insults or scorn; 2) a form of humor lost on most slashdot moderators.
Just because he has an arrow in his back doesn't mean it was a murder. Maybe he was hit accidentally.
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I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good. That would be dishonest.
...the cause of the death of the Human Torch is yet unknown.
Who moderates the meta-moderators?
I say he fell on it and killed himself, since in those days no one played FPS video games.
if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans
It it was an accident, why would he have died alone on a mountain?
Why wouldn't his friend who accidently shot him have helped him down the mountain?
The story said he was shot in the shoulder and took some time to die.
Why do you claim it was an accident? What are you trying to hide? Where were you on Thursday January 12, 5000 B.C.?
Nothing like a pre-historic hunting accident:
Officer: Why did you shoot your friend in the back with that arrow?
Og: He was wearing his deer skin. Before I realized it was him, the bow just went off.
Officer: Well, we could haul him down the mountain, but let's just leave him there. That way when he's found people can speculate wildly about what happened.
Some people have a way with words, and some people, um, thingy.
Scientists also point to a series of cave paintings depicting violent acts as probably having desensitized the killer, allowing him to take another life. "As you can see, even primitive man faced the problem of violence in the media, and this poor chap paid the price."
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
There's no statue of limitation on murder, is there?
I sort of feel sorry for the officer assigned to this case.
According to this article by New Scientist, the arrow was discovered almost by accident. A CT scan performed in April by team specialist Paul Gostner showed no sign of foreign objects. Then three weeks ago, he took a chest X-ray that showed the outline of the arrow. A second examination of the CT scan confirmed the finding, as did the physical examination with pathologist Eduard Egarter which showed a two-centimetre cut in the skin matching the trajectory of the arrow. It turns out that because the arrow lies between the shoulder bone and the ribs, it would only show up on a scan of the side. And since all previous scans had been of only the front and back of the body, they hadn't found it until now.
Kind of makes you think how some of the greatest scientific discoveries were made almost entirely by accident (like how they discovered the electron, electric motors or radiation).
Self Bias Resistor
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When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.
OOG ALWAYS WONDER WHAT HAPPEN TO COUSIN THARG SINCE HE DISAPPEAR IN MOUNTAIN!!! OOG THINK THARG FREEZE TO DEATH OR EATEN BY MAMOUTH BUT NOW ANGRY TO LEARN THARG MURDERED!!!
OOG THINK CAVEMAN GROK BEHIND MURDER (SINCE OJ SIMPSON NOT ALIVE AT THAT TIME AND USE KNIFE INSTEAD OF ARROW), BUT OOG PROBABLY HAVE TO HIRE UNFROZEN CAVEMAN LAWYER CIRROC TO BE ABLE TO BRING REAL KILLER TO JUSTICE!!! OOG AVENGE DEAD COUSIN THARG!!!
OOG THE OPEN SOURCE CAVEMAN!!! OOG BREAK HEAD WITH OPEN SOURCE CD!!!
I have examined all the evidence, and I can conclusively demonstrate the invalidity of the researchers' so-called "single arrow" theory. No one arrow could have caused such damage. There must have been another archer, perhaps firing from the grassy knoll.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
Q: What goes, *stomp* *stomp* *stomp* *stomp* *sproi-oing* *stomp* *stomp* *stomp* *stomp*?
A: A prehistoric drive-by shooting.
(Yes, I know bows don't really go "sproi-oing", but it's a funnier sound effect than "fpppppt".)
It was Cain!
Cain did it!
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Two witches watched two watches.
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Two witches watched two watches.
Which witch watched which watch?
Barney: Hey Fred!
Fred: What?!
Barney: Give me your Cocoa Pebbles!
Fred: No!
Barney: No? Ohhhhhh, Freeeeeed!
(barney gets hit by an arrow in the back)
Fred: Barney!
(a light appears behind Fred)
Barney: Yes, Fred?
Fred: You...you're an angel!
Barney: Your selfishness sent me to the great beyond.
(we see birds holding Barney on ropes and holding a flashlight over him)
Fred: Forgive me! Have my Cocoa Pebbles! Have them all!
Barney: Heavenly! Chocolatiest cereal in Bedrock!
(birds lick their lips and let go of the ropes)
Fred: Barney! You're no angel!
(Barney plummets into a glacier)
Barney: The devil made me do it!
thanks to
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
we need to enact bow control and full arrow registration.
Another sensless walk-by arrowing.
-You can cry, but you'll still die. There'll be no tears in the end.
And the Justice Dept. denied that any of the missing FBI bows & arrows had anything to do with the death.
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I thought a glacier snuck up on the iceman while he was sleeping.