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Reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman, flanked by the tattoo experiment which is believed to replicate how the originals were created. Source: Deter-Wolf et al., Exarc, 2022; Mannivu / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Does Ötzi the Iceman Have History’s Oldest Hand-Poked Tattoos?

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...
A Polar Explorer Died Heating Up His Own Feces

A Polar Explorer Died Heating Up His Own Feces

Jørgen Brønlund was a Greenland-born Inuit polar explorer, educator, and Catholic catechist who participated in two Danish expeditions to Greenland in the early 20th century. Famously, he was the...
What will this frozen goat teach us about famous human ice mummies?

What a Frozen Alpine Goat Can Teach Us About Famous Ice Mummies

DNA is especially important now in understanding our ancestors and the past. However, there is a problem in that it can often be difficult to analyze and preserve. The discovery of a mummified...
These horse-related finds from Lendbreen indicate the route of a Nordic mountain trail: top left) mandible; top right) horseshoe; bottom left) horse skull; bottom right) horse dung. Source: J.H. Barrett & Glacier Archaeology

Tracking Artifacts Reveals Lost Nordic Mountain Trade Route

In pre-history, many of the world's mountain ranges blocked long distance travel and trade, but mountain passes provided routes through ranges and over ridges, facilitating human and animal migration...
The scientists aren’t sure if the 18,000-year-old puppy is a wolf or a dog. Source: Sergey Fedorov

18,000-Year-Old Puppy Found with Whiskers, Hair, and Velvety Nose

By Anna Lisowska, Svetlana Skarbo The male puppy with its arrow-head milky teeth was less than two months old when it died. It was found in summer 2018 inside a lump of a frozen ground near Indigirka...
Reconstruction of Otzi the Iceman by Alfons & Adrie Kennis. (Thilo Parg/CC BY SA 3.0) View looking down westwards to the Ötzi site. (J.H. Dickson et al)

Moss Reveals New Route For Otzi's Death Walk

His 5,300-year-old mummy contained traces of 75 plant species and reveal that Ötzi (Otzi) the Iceman climbed through the Schnalstal valley in Italy. The naturally mummified, 5,300-year-old corpse is...
The cave lion cub now known as ‘Sparta.’ Source: Siberian Times

Uniquely Preserved Cave Lion Cubs: Stunning Photos and Secrets Revealed

By Valeria Sukhova / Siberian Times At first, scientists believed they had found male cave lion cub siblings that were born 44,000 years ago and found ten meters (32.8 ft.) apart in Yakutia, but the...
Ellesmere Island Canada where researchers are reviving frozen lifeforms. Source: James / Adobe Stock.

Long Frozen Organisms in the Arctic Awakened, Hinting at Life on Other Planets

In recent years, researchers have reawakened life in frozen organisms in the Arctic permafrost, bringing them back to life. These studies are now challenging accepted ideas as to the resilience of...
An inuksuk at Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada.

How Global Warming Is Destroying Our Best-Preserved Archaeological Sites

The Arctic is like a time capsule. What dies there can be preserved, like a snapshot of our past, literally frozen in time. Some of the greatest insights we’ve gotten into life, thousands of years...
Ötzi or Kelab as portrayed by Jürgen Vogel in Der Mann aus dem Eis (Iceman).

Ötzi the Iceman Becomes a Movie

Inspired by Ötzi’s fascinating story for survival, German filmmaker Felix Randau attempts to revive the life of the most famous natural mummy in history though a feature film. Der Mann aus dem Eis (...
Mummy of a 900-year-old Russian "polar princess"

Viruses Sleeping in Mummies—Could Ancient Corpses Lead to Modern Epidemics?

Mummies fascinate historians, archaeologists, and anyone with antiquarian leanings. Mummies allow scientists to learn more about the diets, clothing, appearance, genetics, and general lifestyle of...
Naturalistic reconstruction of Ötzi - South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.

Did Ötzi the Iceman Actually Freeze to Death?

A new study suggests that Ötzi the Tyrolean Iceman died of exposure to freezing temperatures in the Italian Alps. Researchers claim that his body and head injuries were most likely made during some...
Could Frozen Seeds Save the Future? Scientists Bring a 32,000-year-old Seed Back to Life

Could Frozen Seeds Save the Future? Scientists Bring a 32,000-year-old Seed Back to Life

Far away on the remote island of Spitsbergen in the Artic Svalbard archipelago lies humanity’s fail-safe storage of seeds. With the threat of natural and man-made disasters looming in the future, the...
The carcass is preserved really very well. And one of the most important things is that the brain is preserved.

Ancient puppy brain is well preserved as dog bares its teeth after 12,400 years

By Anna Liesowska / The Siberian Times Scientists revealed today that they have found the first-ever well preserved brain of a Pleistocene canid. Exclusive video and pictures show the autopsy on a...
Reconstruction of the funeral ceremony.

Unravelling the Events Surrounding the Frozen Burial of a Pazyryk Noblewoman

Twenty years ago, on the Ukok Plateau in the Altai Mountains, one of the greatest discoveries of the national archaeology of the late 20th century was made in Russia: an intact “frozen” burial of...
Archaeologists have unearthed 12 buildings, including a house (left), storehouse (center) and community sauna (upper right) buried by volcanic ash at Ceren around A.D. 660.

Mayan Pompeii: Remarkable Ancient Village Preserved in Ash Emerges in El Salvador

About 1,400 years ago, the Loma Caldera volcano of El Salvador erupted, covering the small Maya village of Ceren in ash and preserving it in pristine condition to the present day. Unlike at Pompeii...