Many reconstructions have been made of Ötzi. He is usually presented as a fair-skinned man with light eyes and long hair, as in the photo at the top of this article. New research shows that he actually had dark eyes and dark skin. He also had a receding hairline.
Principal researcher Albert Zink describes Ötzi as “a gift that keeps on giving.” “Earlier we thought his complexion had darkened from his time on the ice. Now we know it was very much the color of his skin.”
Ötzi’s body was found in 1991 by two hikers in a glacier in the Alps. He lived about 5,300 years ago. This still makes him the oldest mummy ever found in Europe.
Because he’s been in the ice this whole time, his body is well preserved. This allows scientists to study them extensively and learn more and more about our ancestors.
Genetic research has also shown that Ötzi was likely a farmer in the steppes of what is now northernmost Italy. Its ancestors came to Europe from Anatolia (largely present-day Turkey) about 8,000 years ago.
