Comparative genomics: As more ancient European genomes from the Copper Age and Neolithic are analyzed, Ötzi’s genome will be placed in increasingly precise comparative context.

The specific pattern of his ancestry — and whether it was typical or unusual for Alpine communities of his period — will become clearer as more individuals from the same region and time period are analyzed.

The Frozen Window Into Deep Time

In the end, what Ötzi represents is something that has no exact parallel in the entire history of archaeology: a complete human being from deep prehistory, preserved in sufficient detail that he can be known — not inferred, not reconstructed from population averages, but individually known — with a specificity that comes from the actual evidence of his actual body.

He was approximately 45 years old when he died, probably in late spring or early summer.