Other glaciers in the Alps, in the Andes, in the Himalayas, in the Arctic have retreated and will continue to retreat.

Other hollows in other mountains may contain other bodies.

Other frozen windows into the past may be opened by the same climate warming that threatens so much else.

The research community is aware of this possibility — and of the challenge it presents.

A body exposed by glacial retreat has a limited survival window.

The same processes that the glacier had been protecting it from — temperature fluctuation, biological activity, UV radiation, physical disruption — begin to act on it the moment it is exposed.

If a future Ötzi is found by hikers who recognize its significance and contact archaeologists immediately, and if that contact reaches the right people quickly, and if recovery can be accomplished before deterioration is severe, then the science that has been developed through thirty years of Ötzi research can be applied to the new find from the start.