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In this November 2010 photo provided by the Museum of Archeology of South Tyrol, researchers examine the body of a frozen hunter known as Oetzi Iceman for sample its stomach contents in Bolzano, Italy
Marco Samadelli / Eurac Archeology Museum / South Tyrol via AP
NEW YORK – Talking about a paleo diet. Scientists have discovered the last meal of a frozen hunter who died 5,300 years ago in the Alps
The contents of the corpse's stomach, known as the Oetzi l & # Iceman offers a glimpse of what the ancient Europeans ate more than five millennia ago.
On the menu, described Thursday in the journal Current Biology, were the fat and meat of a wild goat, the meat of a red deer and whole wheat seeds, that Oetzi ate shortly before his death
. Fern leaves and spores were also found in Oetzi's stomach. Scientists believe 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 , microbiologist at the Institute of Mummy Studies in Bolzano. "We could see pieces and pieces of food with (the eye) naked."
Although the researchers had already examined the intestines of Oetzi, it was the first time that they could look into his stomach.
The reason is 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.
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 harsh environment," said Maixner, who climbed to the cold and 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 from the University of Oslo, believes that the discoveries are very precious.
"They are trying to use all the methods in the toolbox to answer this really important question of what people were really eating," she says.
Now, Maixner and his team hope to rebuild the composition of bacteria and other microorganisms that lived in Iceman's intestine. and see how it differs from what modern people show.
"Oetzi is always interesting," said Hulda Palsdottir. "He has already spoken to us so much."
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