WILD FRIDAY
    RELATED LINKS:
  • Acupuncture?
  • Reprint of Science Article
  • The Ice Man
  • About Iceman
  • Iceman's muscle
  • Inside Iceman
  • Iceman's Last Meal
  • New Digs for Ice Man
  • More Wild Friday Stories


    My Caveman!
    Within the first week of the discovery of the Iceman, controversy erupted. Italian officials claimed that the Iceman was the property of Italy. From the very beginning the Iceman was assumed to have been found in Austrian territory. The place where the body was found suddenly became important. Using nearby landmarks, Austria and Italian surveyors determined that the Iceman was found within feet of the Austria-Italy border, on Italy's side. Fortunately, the Italians allowed examination of the Iceman to continue at Innsbruck University where the body was stored in a freezer simulating glacier conditions (Innsbruck Institute 1998). Recently the body has been removed from Innsbruck and sent home to Italy (Austria 1998).


    Fresh Frozen?
    Scientists say they have discovered ``extraordinarily well preserved'' fatty materials in the brain and thigh of the ``Tyrolean Ice Man,'' who died 5,300 years ago and whose frozen body was found in the Alps in September 1991. Writing in the journal Current Biology, Dr. Michael Hess of the University of Innsbruck expressed surprise that some subcellular remains were so well preserved and ``still display outstanding structural and molecular integrity.''


    • Please visit our generous sponsor:
    Ancient Acupuncture?
    Edited by Ace in the Hole

       The oldest European mummified human body shows 15 well- preserved tattoo groups on his back and legs, but they are not the decorative kind kids get today. The tattoos on the Tyrolean Iceman have a simple linear geometric shape and are located on parts of the body that seem to be located on Chinese acupuncture points.

       The tattoos were investigated morphometrically, and according to the expert opinion of three accredited acupuncturists nine of the tattoos were on or within 5 millimeters of acupuncture points. Computer tomography revealed that the iceman suffered from arthrosis of the lumbar spine. Acupuncture points used for treatment of this condition coincide with the tattoos.

       Science Magazine explains "the Theory of acupuncture predicts that perforation or irritation of the skin at special locations, the acupuncture points, results in modified function of related, not necessarily adjacent, organs, allowing relief of pain or inflammation."

      

    "These findings raise the possibility that the practice of therapeutically intended acupuncture originated long before the medical tradition of ancient China (approximately 1000 B.C.) and that its geographical origins were Eurasian rather than East-Asian, consistent with far-reaching intercultural contacts of prehistoric mankind."

    (Dorfer, Leopold, et al; "5200-Year-Old Acupuncture in Central Europe?" Science, 282:242, 1998.)

    ©1995-2005