BALZANO, ITALY—Seeker reports that Angelika Fleckinger, the director of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, requested that chief inspector Alexander Horn of Munich’s Criminal Investigation Department research a possible scenario for the death of the 5,300-year-old frozen mummy known as Ötzi the Iceman. Horn evaluated information from the forensic medical examinations conducted on the mummy’s remains, and used behavioral investigative analysis to analyze records of the ancient “crime scene.” He suggests that Ötzi was resting in the mountains, where he had eaten a hearty meal of wild goat, when he was taken by surprise and shot in the shoulder with an arrow. Another injury, to his right hand, may have been inflicted a few days prior to his murder. “Since no other injuries could be found, we believe he came out as a winner from that hostile encounter,” Horn said. The loser, however, may have carried a grudge and pursued Ötzi. And, since Ötzi's mummy was found with his valuable copper ax, made with materials from southern Tuscany, theft was an unlikely motive for the murder. “A personal conflict is more likely,” Horn said. “We are talking of a behavioral pattern that is also prevalent today in most murder cases. It starts with little things and it grows to the extreme.” To read more, go to "Ancient Tattoos: Ötzi the Iceman."
