Lectures Session I: Molecular Studies A1 The 5,300-year-old Helicobacter pylori

A10 - Gletscherarchäologie im Schnalstal

Hubert Steiner
Amt für Bodendenkmäler Armando Diaz 8 Bozen Italy,

Gletscherarchäologie ist auch oder besonders 25 Jahre nach der Auffindung von Ötzi ein Gebot der Stunde. Aufgrund der Klimaerwärmung und der in Folge abschmelzenden Gletscher und Schneefelder eröffnet sich ein neues Aufgabenfeld für die Archäologie. Optimale Erhaltungsbedingungen für organische Funde erlauben neue und detaillierte Einblicke in die Vorgeschichte.Das Auffinden von Gletscherfunden bleibt aus vielerlei Gründen nach wie vor dem Zufall überlassen. So ist es der Umsicht von Christine und Alois Igelspacher aus Röhrmoos in Oberbayern zu verdanken, dass am Langgrubenjoch, einem Übergang zwischen dem Matschertal und dem Schnalstal etwas südlich des Alpenhauptkammes gelegen, auf über 3.000 m Meereshöhe kupfer-, bronze- und römerzeitliche Funde entdeckt, geborgen und untersucht werden konnten. Besonders hervorzuheben sind Leder- und Fellreste der Kupferzeit sowie Reste eines bronzezeitlichen Gebäudes, darunter mehrere Dachschindeln aus Lärche und ein hölzerner Gürtelhaken. Die starke Frequentierung des Alpenhauptkammes seit der Vorgeschichte dokumentieren des Weiteren Neufunde vom Gurgler Eisjoch (3.134 m) im Pfossental/Schnalstal.Das wissenschaftliche Potential der Gletscher zeigt sich im näheren Umfeld durch den Fund von bronzezeitlichen Überresten von Steinböcken (Knochen, Horn, Fell, Exkremente). Diese kamen auf 3.064 m Höhe zwischen dem Heufler- und dem Trinkerkogel (Pfelders/Obergurgl) zum Vorschein. Die Funde liefern aufschlussreiche Informationen über prähistorische Steinbockpopulationen.

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A11 - Tracing human presence connected to Pastoralism at Schnals Valley

Andreas Putzer
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, via Museo 43 Bolzano Italy,

The Schnals Valley is the largest tributary valley of the Vinschgau (South Tyrol/Italy) ranging from 560 m a.s.l at the valley entrance, terminating in an Alpine Ridge, the highest peak of which is Similaun at 3596 m a.s.l. The valley is oriented northwest and follows the typical U-shaped morphology of a valley formed by glacial modelling. 33 % of the valley persist in high alpine pasture and represent the abundant for the historical settlements founded in the 13th century. Animal husbandry, hay making and pastoral activity remained the main economic source of the valley since the 20th century. This particular high alpine landscape of the Schnals Valley attracted humans since more than 10,000 years and evidences the diversity of human activities. In the Mesolithic (c. 9000–6000 cal BC) the availability of faunal species above the tree line is seen as the main attractor for the investigation of high altitudes by humans. The high number of Mesolithic hunting camps suggests subsistence hunting of big game. At the beginning of the Neolithic (c. 6000–3500 cal BC), there seems to have been little interest in the high alpine environment of the Schnals Valley despite the existence of agro-pastoral communities in the main valley of Vinschgau. Following a hiatus, new evidence for human presence is observed at the end of the Neolithic (about 4000 cal BC) and during the Chalcolithic (c. 3500–2200 BC), represented by the Iceman and his equipment. A major impact on the natural landscape is emerges during the Early Bronze Age (c. 2200–1700 cal BC) based on the onset of transhumance system in the study area. Archaeological features show intensification during the entire Bronze Age connected to pastoralism.

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A12 - Copper Age in Trentino Alto Adige: New Data, Syntheses and Open Problems

Umberto Tecchiati¹, Annaluisa Pedrotti²
1 Soprintendenza Provinciale ai Beni culturali di Bolzano - Alto Adige, Ufficio Beni archeologici Via A. Diaz, 8 BOLZANO Italy,

2 Università degli Studi di Trento, Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, Laboratorio di Preistoria "B. Bagolini", Italy

25 years after the discovery of “The Iceman,” the research on Copper Age in the Southern Alps has significantly progressed, especially as regards the reconstruction of the contemporary ideological and spiritual world. New cultic sites (La Vela, Campi Neri di Cles, Varna, Millan) and new statues menhir (Arco, Laion, Vezzano) provide documentary evidence, also at a regional level, for the early rising and the long continuity of the ideology of the warrior-ancestor.Many new radiocarbon datings offer a more comprehensive picture of the chronology of this Age. Its internal articulation into three periods (Copper 1, 2 and 3) can be considered a useful classification tool. If the full Copper Age, dominated by the statues menhir with Remedellian dagger, and Copper 3, characterized by the spread of the Bell-Beaker “phenomenon,” are sufficiently charachterized in a cultural sense, Copper 1, which can be identified with the Tamins-Carasso-Isera horizon, still awaits a better definition, especialli in Alto Adige.The scarcity of inhabited sites, especially for the most ancient periods (Copper 1 and 2), leaves many questions open, which constitute the topic of this essay, as regards the typologies and patterns of settlement, the structures of the inhabited area, the subsistence economy and the use of the territory. With the exception of very few settlements, such as, for example, Isera La Torretta, Villandro-Plunacker and Laces-Gasdotto, most of the available documentary research refers to sporadic discoveries, which contribute nonetheless to stress the remarkable mobility, also in altitude, of the Copper Age peoples.

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A13 - Neuere Aspekte zur Metallurgie der Beilklinge des Eismannes

Gerhard Sperl
Institut für Historische Werkstoffe IHW p.A.Mareckkai 46 Leoben Austria,

Die Beilklinge der „Gletschermumie aus der Kupferzeit“, allgemein „Ötzi“ genannt, wurde am 19.September 1991 nahe dem Hauslabjoch in den Ötztaler Alpen gefunden. Für den Metallurgen interessant ist das Kupferbeil mit 0,2% Arsen 0,1% Silber und etwa 0,5% Sauerstoff als Verunreinigungen. Arsen(As) und Silber (Ag) können grobe Hinweise auf die Herkunft geben, wodurch manche Lagerstätten, wie die Inntaler Kupfergebiete oder das Ahrntal in Südtirol, ausgeschlossen werden können. Andererseits gibt es deutliche Hinweise, daß die Bergbauzone zwischen Agordo und Trient als Herkunftsbereich anzunehmen ist.

Die Frage nach der Art der Kupferbasis, ob gediegen Kupfer, oxidische oder sulfidische Erze, wird von metallurgischer Seite diskutiert, wobei eigene praktische Versuche als Grundlage dienen.

Der durch Anschliffe gefundene Sauerstoffgehalt ist für die Beurteilung der Metallurgie beim Guss des Rohkupfers interessant, da dadurch vor allem der Arsengehalt modifiziert wird. Der Sauerstoffgehalt hat auch Einfluß auf die Hämmerbarkeit beim "Dengeln" der Schneide.

Aus der Lage des verhämmerten Gußlunkers kann bewiesen werden, dass der Guss in stehender Form erfolgte. Das Gewicht mit 174 Gramm ergibt auch Fragen zur Art der Erhitzung über die Schmelztemperatur (um 1080 C), wofür Schmelzversuche mit Blasrohren durchgeführt wurden. Durch metallographische Untersuchungen an der Schneide und im Bereich der Randleisten zeigte sich, dass die Klinge mindestens einmal nach dem „Dengeln“ bei über 600 C geglüht wurde.

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A14 - Lead isotope investigation of Iceman copper axe: provenance of the metal

Gilberto Artioli, Ivana Angelini, Caterina Canovaro
Università di Padova Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Via Gradenigo 6 Padova Italy,

Extensive databases of lead isotope measurements have been developed concerning the copper mineral deposits present in the Alpine region (Artioli et al. 2013), in most continental Europe, around the Mediterranean area and part of the Middle East (Pernicka 2014, Ling et al. 2014). Based on the successful provenancing of several prehistoric copper and bronze objects found in Norther Italy through the use of the lead isotope data (Angelini et al. 2015), a small micro-sample of the copper metal has been extracted from the Iceman axe in the attempt to determine the source of the copper metal. The lead isotope data have been measured using stat-of-the-art MC-ICP-MS instrumentation. The analytical results obtained on the copper of the axe will be critically discussed in comparison with the available database of Alpine copper deposits.

References

Artioli G. et al. (2013) Prehistoric copper metallurgy in the Italian Eastern Alps: recent results. Historical metallurgy 47, 51-59.

Angelini I. et al. (2015) La metallurgia preistorica del rame nell’Italia nord-orientale: quadro d’insieme e recenti sviluppi. Atti della XLVIII Riunione Scientifica dell’IIPP, Padova 2013, Studi di Preistoria e Protostoria, Vol. 2, Preistoria e Protostoria del Veneto, 271-277.

Ling J. et al. (2014) Moving metals II: provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotope and elemental analyses. Journal of Archaeological Science 41, 106-132.

Pernicka E. (2014) Provenance Determination of Archaeological Metal Objects. In: B.W. Roberts and C.P. Thornton (eds.) Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective, Methods and Syntheses. 239-268, Springer. London

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A15 - Die Beilklinge des Mannes aus dem Eis – Hinweise auf Produktion, Bearbeitung und Nutzung

Benno Baumgarten¹, Guenther Kaufmann²
1 Naturmuseum Südtirol Bindergasse 1 Bozen Italy,

2 Südtiroler Archäologiemuseum, Italy

Mit Hilfe eines Stereo-Binokulars wurden zerstörungsfreie oberflächenstrukturelle Untersuchungen der Beilklinge des Mannes aus dem Eis durchgeführt.Spuren der Herstellung und BearbeitungDie Kupfer-Beilklinge des Mannes aus dem Eis weist aufgrund der optimalen Konservierung im Eis kaum Korrosionsspuren auf. Weite Teile der Metalloberfläche befinden sich im ursprünglichen Zustand und lassen daher die von der Herstellungstechnik hinterlassenen Bearbeitungsspuren viel deutlicher erkennen als andere zeitgleiche Kupferobjekte. Vorausgegangene NAA-Gefügeuntersuchungen ergaben, dass es sich bei der Beilklinge um ein Gussstück mit mechanischer Nachbearbeitung des vorderen Klingenbereichs (zur Härtung? Zur Nachschärfung) handelt (Artioli et al. 2003)1.Eine früher von den Autoren durchgeführte überschlägige Oberflächenprüfung zeigte eine Reihe von Bearbeitungsmerkmalen, die einerseits Hinweise auf die Herstellungstechnik, andererseits auch auf die Verwendung der Klinge geben. Neben dem Gusslunker, der nochmals bewertet wird, fanden sich vor allem an den Randleisten spitzwinklige Scherbrüche, die eine durchgeführte Schmiedearbeit belegen und bisher nicht beschrieben wurden.Alte NutzungsspurenDie Nackenpartie und die Schneide weisen Veränderungen auf, die durch die Nutzung des Beiles hervorgerufen worden sind: Druckstellen im Nackenbereich, Scharten an der Klinge.Spuren der Oberflächenveränderungen seit der AuffindungAußerdem werden die seit dem Fundzeitpunkt erfolgten Veränderungen durch die verschiedenen Untersuchungen (Abschaben der Klinge und Verschmieren der Oberfläche mittels Skalpell in Innsbruck, Abraspeln für die RFA-Oberflächenanalyse im RGZM) (Egg / Spindler 2009, 36, 124)3 in ihrem Umfang detailliert nachgewiesen und dokumentiert.
References

Artioli G., Dugnani M., Hansen Th., Lutterotti L., Pedrotti A., Sperl G. 2003, Crystallographic Texture Analysis of the Iceman and Coeval Copper Axes by Non-invasive Neutron Powder Diffraction, in: Fleckinger A. (Hg.), Die Gletschermumie aus der Kupferzeit

Neue Forschungsergebnisse zum Mann aus dem Eis, Schriften des Südtiroler Archäologiemuseums 3, Bozen-Wien, pp. 9-22.2 Egg M., Spindler K. 2009, Kleidung und Ausrüstung der kupferzeitlichen Gletschermumie aus den Ötztaler Alpen, Monographien RGZM 77, Mainz.

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Lectures Session III: Museology


A16 - “World on the Move: the Copper Age” – A One-Day Symposium in Washington DC, November 2017

Alex Barker¹, Edward Liebow²
1 Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri 1 Pickard Hall Columbia, MO U.S.A.,

2 American Anthropological Association, Arlington, VA, U.S.A.

“World on the Move: 100,000 Years of Human Migration” is a public education initiative of the American Anthropological Association that emphasizes the essential and enduring role that mobility has played throughout the course of human history. The Association will host a day-long public symposium in Washington DC on 28th November 2017, in conjunction with its annual Research Conference, placing the spotlight on mobility in the Copper Age. Taking its cue from a seminal essay by Stephen Greenblatt identifying “resonance” and “wonder” as two key dimensions of high-impact museum visitor experiences, the symposium will explore mobility during this exciting period of rapid social change and human population movements. Combining bioarchaeological contributions resulting from the Ötzi discovery with the public’s fascination with Ötzi as a window on the past, the symposium will compare developments in central Europe with settlement, expansion, and Copper Age intercultural contact in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and Pakistan, Jiangzhai and Hongshan cultures of China, North and West Africa, and the Americas. These widespread social processes will be made resonant for the public through expression at the human scale of a single individual, and by discussing these processes, including impacts on human settlement and mobility during fluctuating Ice Age and Holocene climates, through concerns familiar to latter-day visitors. The element of wonder will be emphasized through the breadth of social interactions in prehistory and the complexity of forensic and archaeological reconstructions possible through cutting-edge science. The symposium coincides with the arrival in North America of a traveling museum exhibition about Ötzi and current scholarship on his times, building on the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology’s current exhibition, Heavy Metal. Symposium participants will also explore the impact of single individual like Ötzi on public perceptions of—and interest in--the past.

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A17 - Fascinating Insights into the Human Journey: A New Touring Experience in North America

Emlyn Koster, Director, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC 27612, USA

Murdered in his 40s, Ötzi’s remarkable story from 5,300 years ago is powerfully grasped in the context that most babies born at the dawn of the 20^th century still did not live past 50. What began 25 years ago with classic anatomical studies and dating techniques has been transformed with sophisticated, multidisciplinary, research approaches into an exponentially more detailed picture of Ötzi’s lived experience, his health, prevailing diseases, and with an abundance of wider insights. These include developments in the exploitation of metals and other natural resources; in rituals and spirituality; clothing and weapons; food and cooking; animal domestication and agriculture; social structure and migration; technology and trade; conflict and diplomacy. Dramatically underscored is the surging progress of the medical sciences to analyze and extend life.
Museums are unique resources for reflection and inspiration that help us to understand the world and our place in it. In the Anthropocene, nature and science museums face new accountabilities, including the engagement of all ages and stages of learning with the human journey. Its chapters have been before, during and since human life diverged from wildlife and with the most recent one comprising prehistoric, historic and modern stages: Ötzi offers an unparalleled time capsule into the prehistoric human journey.
Opened in 1879, today’s North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is an innovative research, exhibition and education resource. Its mission is ‘to illuminate the interdependence of nature and humanity’ with a ‘what do we know?’, ‘how do we know?’, ‘what is happening now?’ and ‘how can the public participate?’ compass. Enhanced by regional and national partnerships, the North American premiere in October 2017 of the new Ötzi-focused exhibition from the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology and Museums Partner will engage diverse audiences with scientific evidence for cultural developments and medical advances as well as stimulate dialogue across the humanities. This experience will follow linked ones about the human microbiome from the American Museum of Natural History and the science of race conceived by the American Anthropological Association and from the Science Museum of Minnesota.

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Lectures Session IV: Archeobotany, Isotopes, Dating and Climate


A18 - The Archaeobotany of Ötzi, the Iceman, and his possible involvement in pastoral activities

Klaus Oeggl¹, Daniela Festi¹, Andreas Putzer², Wolfgang Müller³
1 Institut für Botanik, Universität Innsbruck Sternwartestrasse 15 Innsbruck Austria,

2 Südtiroler Archäologiemuseum, Italy

3 Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London

Twenty-five years of studies on the find assemblage of the Tyrolean Iceman “Ötzi” reveal a great deal of information about the life and environment of this Neolithic man in the Alps. The archaeobotany of his artefacts discloses a skilled person, well adapted to the alpine environment. Sequential analysis of ingesta from different locations of his intestinal tract encompass at least three different meals. He consumed a well-balanced omnivore diet during his last two days. Much more, the background pollen of the ingesta samples enables the reconstruction of his travels just before his demise. These results lend new weight to the disaster theory of Ötzi´s death, which suggests that returning from the high alpine pastures to his native village he came into a severe conflict with his kin that he had to flee from the community back to the high ground familiar to him, where he died. Since the discovery of an arrow head in his left shoulder a strong evidence for a violent death is on hand, but several questions are still unsolved.

Besides the dispute about Ötzi’s personal fate, his social status and societal role is an open issue. The suggested possibilities range from hunter, herder, ore prospector, outlaw to shaman and warrior. Anyway, the implication is that his sojourn into the high-altitudes of the Alps seems to be associated with alpine pasture. So here we show in an interdisciplinary study the beginning of pastoral activities in high altitudes in the central part of the Eastern Alps by combining data from pollen analyses, isotopic analyses and archaeological surveys. Both pollen analyses and archaeological surveys are conducted along the traditional alpine transhumance route from the Vinschgau to the backmost Ötz valley. Isotopic analysis (Sr, O) conducted at high-spatial resolution to retrieve (sub)seasonal mobility signals were directly conducted on Copper aged sheep/goat molars from the Vinschgau site of Latsch. Taken together, these studies reveal that grazing pressure is reflected at the earliest since the Bronze Age, which is corroborated by archaeological findings near the palynologically investigated sites and isotopic analyses. This sheds new light on the fundamental aspects of interpreting Ötzi’s social status, which is incompatible with his role as herder.

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A19 - Bryophytes and the Tyrolean Iceman

James Dickson¹, Klaus Oeggl², Wolfgang Hofbauer³, Werner Kofler⁴
1 Glasgow University (retired) 15 Craigton Road Glasgow United Kingdom,

2 University of Innsbruck, Austria

3 Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysic IBP, Valley, Germany

4 University of Innsbruck, Austria

At present a mere 25 species of Bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) grow around the site of discovery of the Tyrolean Iceman at 3210m above sea-level in the nival zone where the environmental conditions are very severe. In very striking contrast stand a total of 80 species (67 mosses and 13 liverworts). Bryophytes sieved from the icy sediments in the rocky hollow, picked from the mummy’s clothes and extracted from the alimentary tract have been identified and counted. In a series of papers published during the last 20 years JHD et al have discussed what might account for this more than three times disparity. Numerical analyses of the results from the 160 samples are being applied to test these hypotheses. They inform us about the most likely ways the high number of lowland species reached the site and have the potential to shed new light on the habitat of the Iceman’s former domicile.

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A20 - On the heavy metal(loid) exposure of the Alpine Iceman recorded in his nail, hair and soft tissue

Wolfgang Müller¹, Jörg Feldmann², Magdalena D. Blanz², Chris Harrington³, Albert Zink⁴
1 Royal Holloway University of London Dept. of Earth Sciences Egham United Kingdom,

2 TESLA - Trace Element Speciation Laboratory, University of Aberdeen, U.K, United Kingdom

3 NHS Trace Element Centre, SAS, Guilford, U.K.

4 EURAC - Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, Bolzano, Italy

The Iceman’s involvement in early copper metallurgy remains controversial (Brothwell and Grime, 2003; Gössler et al., 1994; Pabst and Hofer, 1998; van Loon, 1998). Given the mummy’s organic tissue preservation, nail, hair and other soft tissue samples provide excellent opportunities to help resolve this question. What is more, time-series information of heavy metal(loid) concentrations can be retrieved from continuously forming samples such as hair and nail using high-spatial resolution laser-ablation mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS (Müller et al., 2009)). LA-ICPMS furthermore allows evaluating post-mortem (‘diagenetic’) alteration of in-vivo signals via depth-profiling and has the added benefit of minimal sample consumption / destruction.

The results obtained so far indicate that the Iceman’s hair and nail samples are characterized by elevated concentrations of alteration-indicator elements such as Al, Ce, U, Y, all of which are found in much lower concentrations in modern keratin samples. These elements correlate with elevated Cu, Zn, Pb concentrations, while those of Sn, Cd and other heavy metals overall are (very) low. There are clear depth-dependent concentration profiles present especially in the Iceman’s nail, suggesting that inside and outside surfaces show highest levels of alteration, and true in-vivo levels may only be approximated but possibly not fully preserved anymore in all cases. This is in line with the alteration of the Iceman at the discovery site reported earlier (Bereuter et al., 1997; Oeggl, 2003).

Arsenic (As) in the Iceman’s samples is noteworthy as it shows slightly elevated levels compared to modern samples. Moreover, As does not correlate well with above-mentioned alteration-indicator elements. In order to further evaluate the origin of As, we are currently conducting As speciation analysis (Raab and Feldmann 2005). Via a comparison with local water data in South Tyrol as well as sediments and ice at the discovery site we intend to evaluate whether this constitutes an in-vivo or post-mortem signal. If the former, then the issue of accidental or deliberate (Przygoda et al., 2001) arsenic ingestion might help explain the initial findings. In any case, earlier claims for the Iceman’s involvement in smelting activities have to be considered with caution. Corresponding results will be presented.
References

Bereuter, T.L., Mikenda, W., Reiter, C., 1997. Iceman's mummification - Implications from infrared spectroscopical and histological studies. Chem.-Eur. J. 3, 1032-1038.

Brothwell, D., Grime, G., 2003. The Analysis of the Hair of the Iceman, in: Lynnerup, N., Andreasen, C., Berglund, J. (Eds.), Mummies in a New Millenium. Danish Polar Centre, Copenhagen, pp. 66-69.

Gössler, W., Schlagenhaufen, C., Irgolic, K.J., Teschler-Nicola, M., Wilfing, H., Seidler, H., 1994. Priest, hunter, alpine shepherd, or smelter worker, in: Moser, H., Platzer, W., Seidler, H., Spindler, K. (Eds.), Der Mann im Eis. Springer, Wien, New York, pp. 269-273.

Müller, W., Shelley, M., Miller, P., Broude, S., 2009. Initial performance metrics of a new custom-designed ArF excimer LA-ICPMS system coupled to a two-volume laser-ablation cell. Journal Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 24, 209-214.

Oeggl, K., 2003. Wurde die Mumie bewegt. Die Gletschermumie aus der Kupferzeit 2, 91-100.

Pabst, M.A., Hofer, F., 1998. Deposits of different origin in the lungs of the 5,300-year-old Tyrolean Iceman. Am J Phys Anthropol 107, 1-12.

Przygoda, G., Feldmann, J., Cullen, W.R., 2001. The arsenic eaters of Styria: a different picture of people who were chronically exposed to arsenic. Applied organometallic chemistry 15, 457-462.

Raab, A. and Feldmann, J., 2005. Arsenic Speciation in hair. Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry 381, 332-338.

van Loon, A.T., 1998. Early alpine industry. Nature 392, 221-221.

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