The finding nonetheless captures something important about genetic continuity.

The populations of the Alps in the Copper Age were not genetically unrelated to the populations that live in the Alps today.

The modern Tyrolean population carries, in diluted and mixed form, some of the same genetic heritage that Ötzi carried in undiluted form.

The transformation of European genetics by the steppe migration was not absolute in the Alpine valleys — some of the pre-steppe ancestry persisted, and its traces survive in the people who live in the mountains today.

Climate Change And The Future Of Ötzi-Like Discoveries