The story of Otzi, the ‘Ice Man,’ is well known. In 1991, two Alpine hikers on the border of Austria, at around 10,500 feet, discovered, as they approached the edge of a receding glacier, a partially exposed body in the ice. The autopsy revealed, amazingly, that the corpse was the remains of a prehistoric man. The “Ice Man,” it turned out, lived around 5300 years ago.
The story of Otzi and his well preserved belongings soon became a worldwide sensation. Recently, however, research by Norwegian archaeologists has cast doubt on the reliability of the familiar Otzi narrative (https://sciencenorway.no/archaeology-stone-age/new-research-on-5300-year-old-otzi-suggests-there-could-be-more-ice-mummies-out-there/2105033).
Veteran glacial archaeologist Lars Pilø thinks Otzi was refrozen more than once and was not as unique as previously believed. Pilø’s views are the subject of Secrets of the Ice a new documentary on Norwegian TV (https://secretsoftheice.com/).
One the most curious angles on the Otzi story, not mentioned by current accounts was covered in Atlantis Rising Magazine #94 by science writer Patrick Marsolek, significant evidence in the body of the Ice Man, indicating that he was being treated with the ancient Chinese medical practice of acupuncture.
X-ray scanning of Otzi’s body revealed that he suffered from arthritis in his hip joints, knees, ankles and lumbar spine. This information connects to one of the most interesting and provocative finds on the body, his 59 tattoos, mostly comprised of simple crosses or lines, arranged in 15 groups—on his left knee, above the kidneys, along the lumbar spine, and on his legs and ankles. Researchers noticed that many of these tattoos were clustered near the areas where he had arthritis—suggesting they had been placed intentionally as a form of acupuncture to treat his disease. Frank Bahr, president of the German Academy of Acupuncture, first made the tattoo-acupuncture connection on the ice man after studying a drawing of the tattoos and their placement on Otzi’s body. The points identified are still part of standard acupuncture practice.
Nine of the tattoos, experts found, are located on the Urinary Bladder meridian, commonly associated with treating back pain. One of the cross-shaped tattoos is located near the left ankle on a point which is considered the ‘master point’ for back pain.
Researchers also noted that five other tattoos located on the body corresponded with points located on the gall bladder, spleen and liver meridians, points that are traditionally used to treat stomach disorders. Apparently, Otzi’s acupuncturist was treating both Otzi’s joint pain and his stomach distress. Since the tattoos seem to be placed not randomly, but corresponding to specific points, and are even clustered on specific meridians, the tattoos seem likely to represent a meaningful therapeutic regime.
In all, eighty percent of Otzi’s tattoos fall on or near points that are still used by most acupuncturists today.
AR #94
Acupuncture & The Ice Man
