His importance to the modern understanding of that story is partly a matter of luck.

The preservation of his body, in the specific conditions of that specific ledge in that specific passage, happened to produce the kind of evidence — a mummified individual with datable materials and physical context — that made the broader story tangible in a way that scattered artifacts and mining marks cannot fully achieve.

He was a person.

He had a face, a height, a build, a diet.

He had a last meal.