Ancient & Iceman & # 39; shows signs of a last well balanced meal

The contents of the corpse's stomach, widely known as Oetzi the Iceman, offer insight into what the Ancient Europeans ate more than five millennia ago, the researchers said. (Source of the picture: AP)

Talk about a paleo diet. Scientists have discovered the last meal of a frozen hunter who died 5,300 years ago in the Alps. The content of the corpse's stomach, widely known as Oetzi's Iceman, offers insight into what ancient Europeans ate more than five millennia ago, according to the researchers.

On the menu, described Thursday in the journal Current Biology. wild goat meat, meat of a red deer and whole wheat seeds, that Oetzi ate shortly before his death. Traces of fern leaves and spores have also been discovered in Oetzi's stomach. Scientists think that he may have swallowed the plant involuntarily or as a drug against parasites previously found in his gut. "It was very impressive," said lead author Frank Maixner, a microbiologist at the Institute of Mummy Studies in Bolzano, Italy. "We could see pieces and pieces of food with (the eye) naked."

Although researchers have already examined the intestines of Oetzi, it was the first time that they could look in his stomach. The reason is nothing short of grotesque. After the death of Oetzi, the organ has moved to the top. It was only in 2009, 18 years after the discovery of its remains near the border between Italy and Austria, that a radiologist detected it. behind the rib cage. And it was full. After slowly thawing the body, the team took samples and rehydrated them.

Now, Maixner and his team hope to rebuild the composition of bacteria and other microorganisms that lived in the Iceman's intestine. How does this differ from what modern people show? (Image Source: AP)

Nearly half of the contents of the stomach has been identified as the body fat of an ibex, a wild goat that still lives in the Alps. It's a lot of fat. But scientists think that discovery makes sense. "It's a tough environment," said Maixner, who climbed to the cold, windy site where Oetzi was found. "They had to be prepared, they had to have food that gave them the energy they needed to survive." Albina Hulda Palsdottir, an archaeozoologist at the University of Oslo, says the findings are very useful.

"They try to use all the toolbox methods to answer this really important question of what people really were eating" at the time, she says. Now, Maixner and his team hope to rebuild the composition of bacteria and other microorganisms that lived in the Iceman's intestine, and see how it differs from what modern people are showing. "Oetzi is always interesting," said Hulda Palsdottir. "He already told us."

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