He had 61 tattoos distributed across his body — a remarkable number for any individual, ancient or modern.

They were not decorative in any obvious sense: they were made by incising the skin and rubbing in charcoal, producing simple lines and crosses rather than pictorial images.

Many of them were located in places typically covered by clothing, suggesting they were not intended for social display.

The locations of the tattoos correlated strikingly with points of pain and degeneration in Ötzi’s skeletal system.

Several tattoos were positioned near arthritic joints and near areas of his spine that showed evidence of degenerative disease.