Lo que comemos puede decir mucho sobre nosotros: donde vivimos, como vivimos y a veces cuando vivimos. Del análisis del contenido intestinal de Otzi, el 'Hombre de Hielo' de 5.200 años de antigüedad, el Profesor James Dickson y su equipo de la Universidad de Glasgow (U.K.), han podido arrojar algo de luz acerca de la forma de vida de la momia y de los eventos que condujeron a su muerte. Al identificar seis musgos diferentes en su tracto alimentario, los investigadores sugieren que el 'Hombre de Hielo' podría haber estado viajando y haberse autolesionado y curado sus heridas. Estos hallazgos se publican en el número de diciembre de la revista de la editorial Springer 'Vegetation History and Archaeobotany', dedicado especialmente a Otzi (Oetzi) 'el Hombre de Hielo'.Esta es la primera momia glaciar con musgos en su intestino. Esto es sorprendente, pues los musgos ni saben bien ni son nutritivos, y hay pocos informes sobre su uso en tratamientos médicos internos. En vez de eso, los musgos arqueológicos parecen haber sido utilizados para rellenar, limpiar y envolver. Dickson y sus colegas descubrieron cosas sobre la forma de vida y los acontecimientos de últimos días de Otzi: la publicación detalla los seis musgos identificados e intenta responder a algunas preguntas clave: donde entró en contacto Otzi con cada tipo de musgo y como fue que los incorporó a su dieta.
En particular, los autores sugieren que probablemente un tipo de musgo se usó para envolver alimentos, que otro fue ingerido al beber agua en los últimos días de su vida, y que otro habría sido utilizado como vendaje para heridas. Uno de los tipos de musgo encontrados, no procede de la región donde se encontró a Otzi, lo que implica que éste debía haber viajado.
What we eat can say a lot about us – where we live, how we live and eventually even when we lived. From the analysis of the intestinal contents of Oetzi, the 5,200-year-old Iceman from the Eastern Alps, Professor James Dickson from the University of Glasgow in the UK and his team have shed some light on the mummy’s lifestyle and some of the events leading up to his death. By identifying six different mosses in his alimentary tract, they suggest that the Iceman may have travelled, injured himself and dressed his wounds. Their findings1 are published in the December issue of Springer’s journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, which is specially dedicated to Oetzi the Iceman.
The Iceman is the first glacier mummy to have fragments of mosses in his intestine. This is surprising as mosses are neither palatable nor nutritious and there are few reports of mosses used for internal medical treatments. Rather, mosses recovered from archaeological sites tend to have been used for stuffing, wiping and wrapping.
Dickson and colleagues studied the moss remains from the intestines of the Iceman on microscope slides, to find out more about his lifestyle and events during the last few days of his life. Their paper describes in detail the six different mosses identified and seeks to provide answers to two key questions in each case. Firstly, where did the Iceman come in contact with each species; secondly, how did each come to enter his alimentary tract.
In particular, the authors suggest that one type of moss is likely to have been used to wrap food, another is likely to have been swallowed when the Iceman drank water during the last few days of his life, and yet another would have been used as a wound dressing. One type of moss in the Iceman’s gut is not known in the region where the mummy was found, implying that the Iceman must have travelled.
Tomado de/Taken from Oetzi’s last supper
Primera página de la publicación/First page of the paper Six mosses from the Tyrolean Iceman’s alimentary tract and their significance for his ethnobotany and the events of his last days
