frozen

Over five millennia have passed since Ötzi the Iceman was struck down by an arrow from an unknown assailant in the frigid northern regions of the Alps. But still the ancient frozen body has secrets to reveal. Now researchers in Tennessee claim to have unraveled the enigma surrounding Ötzi’s magnificent tattoos: they suggest that Ötzi likely crafted them himself, employing a technique called “hand poking” wherein a sharp handheld tool repeatedly pierces the skin. For the purposes of this research, published in The European Journal of Archaeology, one of the scholars involved went so far as to tattoo himself using various ancient methods. He hoped this would help determine which technique yielded markings most like those found on the Iceman