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Volume 4 of the series The Man in the Ice contains the newest results of the scientific research groups working on the Iceman during the last years. By means of different methods - AMS-radiocarbon dating, bryology, dendrology, analysis of diatoms, macroremains and pollen - the reader gets information about several aspects of the Iceman's lifestyle and environment as well as the vegetation and climate of the Ötztal region. Investigations of the artefacts give insight into prehistoric craftsmenship. By several different approaches the potential location of his settlement is reconstructed. The good preservation of the pollen in his food residue allowed even a reconstruction of the season when the Iceman died. Willow leaves contained the information about the CO2 in the air the Iceman breathed. Detailed pollenanalyses of mire deposits in the alpine region of the Ötztal gave insight into the genesis of the alpine grass heath and early pastoral farming of a time l ong before the Iceman lived. Radiocarbondating of organic matter from the Iceman's finding spot detected a piece of wood from the Early Neolithic that demonstrates the early interest of prehistoric people in these highland zones. These are only some of the new results in this book. A perspective of future research activities is given.
List of contents
Summary from the contents:
Preface
- List of contributors
- Radiocarbon dating of equipment from the Iceman
- The Iceman's environment
- The amount of CO2 in the air breathed by the Iceman
- Dendrological analyses of artefacts and other remains
- The bow of the Tyrolean Iceman: A dendrological investigation by computed tomography
- Analysis of the bast used by the Iceman as binding material
- Bryology and the Iceman: chorology, ecology and ethnobotany of the Mosses Neckera complanata Hedw. and N. crispa Hedw
- The diet of the Iceman
- Diatoms from the colon of the Iceman
- Parasitological examination of the Iceman
- Vivianite from the Iceman of the Hauslabjoch (Tyrol, Austria): mineralogical-chemical data
- Ethnomycological remarks on the Iceman's Fungi
- Contribution to insect remains in the accompanying equipment of the late neolithic human mummy from the Hauslabjoch (Ötztaler Alpen)
- Compilation of DNA sequences from the Iceman's grass clothing
- Epilog: The search f or explanations & future developments
