The irony is profound: one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century was significantly damaged before anyone understood what it was.

The lesson — that any unusual discovery in a remote environment should be treated as potentially significant until proven otherwise, and that speed of extraction should be balanced against preservation — has influenced thinking about how to handle future discoveries.

The developing protocols for dealing with ice finds, particularly in the context of accelerating glacier retreat, reflect in part the lessons learned from the initial Ötzi recovery.

Despite the damage, what remained was extraordinary.