I think there will always be new doors opening for research.”

This is perhaps the most remarkable quality of the Ötzi discovery: its apparent inexhaustibility as a scientific resource.

The questions change as the methods change.

Each new analytical technology applied to the mummy or its associated materials has produced new findings, sometimes confirming previous results, sometimes correcting them, sometimes opening entirely new lines of inquiry.

The Living Relatives

One of the more unexpected findings in the history of Ötzi research came not from the Iceman himself but from a genetic study that found his living relatives.

In 2013, researchers announced the identification of 19 living men in the Tyrol region of Austria who share the same Y-chromosome haplogroup (G2a, a subtype) with Ötzi.