How Many Animals are in Ötzi the Iceman's Wild Wardrobe?

Ötzi the Iceman is one of the most well-know mummies in the recent years. He was discovered in a European glacier in 1991 and was estimated to be 5,300 years old. When he was found, he was surprisingly intact and his clothes were well-preserved.

His wardrobe consists of a hide coat, skin leggings, fur hat and hay-stuffed shoes. He was called Ötzi because he was found in Öztal Alps, National Geographic reports.

Ötzi was a brown-eyed, gap-toothed and tattooed man. Possibly, he spent his 40-odd years farming and herding, and was probably suffering from a painful stomachache at the time of his quick and violent death in the Öztal Alps.

Sientists now turn to look on his clothes. But why such interest?

According to an article from National Geographic, it is very important to understand the choice of animal that made up ancient clothing because it will all give clues about the status and way of life of ancient human beings.

In fact, Live Science reported that there was a 2008 study that proved Ötzi's animal skin clothing came from domesticated animals by studying some of the hair. But it took many years of extensive research to recognize what kind of animals Ötzi is wearing.

Niall O'Sullivan and his colleagues attempted to solve the mystery that surrounds Ötzi's interesting wardrobe. The group gathered genetic data from Ötzi's outfit.

Researchers were able to get the ancient DNA markers in the nine samples of leather and fur from Ötzi's clothing articles.

"We have discovered that the iceman's clothes were composed of an array of different animals," said study co-author Niall O'Sullivan, a doctoral candidate in archaeology at the University College Dublin in Ireland and researcher at the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, EURAC research in Bolzano, Italy.

Ötzi's leather overcoat was made of a grab bag of at least four different individual animals from two species of sheep and goat while his lighter overcoat is made of sheep. His leggings are of goat skin.

His leather shoes were made of grass while its shoelaces were from wild cow or auroch. His furry hat was once part of a brown bear while his quiver was made from a roe deer.

"It is probable that the Iceman was not a hermit. He likely traded furs or domestic animals," O'Sullivan said.