Ancient worlds · Copper Age Alps · c. 3300 BCE
Ötzi the Iceman
A 5,300-year-old man found in a glacier, with his tools, clothes and last meals.
Research draft · editor review pending. Every claim below is linked to a checked source, but this dossier has not yet been reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Corrections are logged.
In September 1991, hikers in the Ötztal Alps found a body emerging from melting ice at about 3,210 meters. It turned out to be a man who died around 3300 BCE — Europe's oldest known natural human mummy.
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Connected dossiers
StonehengeSame era · Late Neolithic and Copper Age Europe.
Göbekli TepeSame open question · How prehistoric people lived.See Ötzi the Iceman in the discovery universe →
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How to read the labels
EstablishedSupported by strong, converging evidence.
ContestedEvidence exists but qualified scholars disagree.
UnresolvedThe question is open; evidence does not settle it.
LegendComes from myth, literature or tradition, not physical evidence.
SpeculativeA hypothesis with little direct evidence so far.
Hero image: Stone memorial at the Tisenjoch find site of Ötzi, 3,210 m. Photo: Tigerente · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons. Evidence labels describe the written claims, not the image. Version 1 · updated 2026-10-22.