Archive Note
Helmut and Erika Simon found the body on the Tisenjoch pass at 3,210 meters on September 19, 1991, and it was initially mistaken for a recent climbing accident before radiocarbon dating placed it at about 3370 to 3100 BC. Ötzi bears 61 tattoos arranged in 19 groups, concentrated over the joints and lumbar spine, areas consistent with the degenerative joint disease confirmed by skeletal analysis, which supports a therapeutic reading. The 2024 study by Deter-Wolf and colleagues confirmed hand-poke puncture as the application technique, replacing the earlier incision-and-rub hypothesis. The older idea that the tattoos correspond to Chinese acupuncture meridians is treated as anachronistic. He died of an arrow wound to the left shoulder, confirmed by CT imaging, and the remains are held at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano.