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Scientific interventions on the Iceman: response to the comments of L. Engstrand
Statements published in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet in an interview with the bacteriologist Lars Engstrand, concerning the recent scientific investigations on the Iceman, contain inaccuracies and misrepresentations. This is the message of the statement made by the Director of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology together with the scientists responsible for the investigation and preservation of the well-known mummy.
On 21 December 2010, the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet published an interview with the Swedish bacteriologist Lars Engstrand. His statements contained inaccuracies and misrepresentations that presented the scientific interventions on the mummy of the Iceman (Ötzi) in a completely false light.
Angelika Fleckinger, Director of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Albert Zink of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman at Eurac, Bozen, and Eduard Egarter Vigl, Head of Conservation for the Iceman, have all commented on the misleading statements of Lars Engstrand regarding the investigations made in November on the man from the ice.
It is true that, at the beginning of November 2010, samples were taken from the Ötzi mummy at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Bozen. This was planned down to the last detail and officially authorised by those responsible. The samples were intended for use in various international scientific projects relating to microbiology, genetics, preservation technology and forensic science.
Most tissue samples, the total quantity of which amounted to less than 3 grams, originated from the muscles and connective tissues of the extremities from places on the body where the absence of skin permitted access without significant damage. These samples were primarily intended to advance preservation techniques.
Other samples were taken from the mummy’s insides via incisions in the skin that had been made during earlier sampling. Lars Engstrand’s statement that a 10 cm cut was made in the belly is totally false and lacks any basis. The fact of the matter is that, as an oesophageal gastroscopy using an endoscope was not possible, the stomach was accessed via an already existing cut in the belly (from the time when the mummy was being kept at the University Clinic in Innsbruck) located in a skin fold above the navel. Thus a new cut was in no way necessary and was never contemplated.
All of the scientists involved, including Lars Engstrand, signed a written agreement obliging them to maintain strict silence regarding the interventions and their results until conclusion of the scientific investigations. The interview is thus a clear breach of the rules of scientific correctness.
Angelika Fleckinger, Director of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Bozen
Albert Zink, Director of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman at Eurac, Bozen,
Eduard Egarter-Vigl, Head of Conservation for the Iceman, Bozen
Bozen, 22 December 2010
Interview with L. Engstrand, „Svenska Dagbladet“ 21.12.2010
Photos: Photographic material on the Iceman can be downloaded free of charge from the museum's website at www.iceman.it/en/photo-archive. The photo material can be used free of charge provided that the copyright is mentioned: © Südtiroler Archäologiemuseum/name of the photographer.
Information:
Kunigunde Weissenegger, South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology Press Office
Phone +39 0471 320114
E-mail kunigunde.weissenegger@iceman.it; press@iceman.it
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology
Museumstr. 43
I‐39100 Bozen
www.iceman.it
