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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
> 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
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.
...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
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.
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!!!
riiiiight, it's really easy to accidentally hit someone with an arrow.
"It just went off when I was cleaning it (and after I had strung, drawn, aimed, and loosed it)."
Sheesh, who would have thought uninformed opinions would run rampant on slashdot?! Errrr, uh, nevermind then.
"Oeggl [the guy who analyzed the last meal based on a tiny scrap of food from the Iceman's colon] readily acknowledges that scientists may never know what prompted the Iceman to leave the relatively hospitable valley with no water or food to speak of (a single sloe berry was found with his remains) and try to cross the mountain at a time of year when several feet of snow easily could have obscured the topography of the steep and rocky Alpine ridge."
So we've got a guy leaving a fairly warm valley in some haste but well prepared (had eaten, brought no food, but had an ax, a bow, and 14 arrows), getting assaulted about 8 hours later, shot from behind and below (someone chasing him?), and left there with all his stuff.
My vote is for jealous husband, frankly -- a battle would have left more corpses behind, a robber would have taken his stuff, and the Iceman was leaving someplace safe and warm very quickly -- and very well-armed.
TSG
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?
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.