New DNA Analysis Reveals Ötzi’s Appearance and Genetic Predispositions

KOMPAS.com – Ötzi’s appearance was recently revealed through a recent DNA analysis.

Ötzi the iceman was found with a naturally preserved body before he died some 5,300 years ago in the Alps.

The new study shows Ötzi is genetically predisposed to baldness, diabetes and obesity.

Ötzi mummy DNA analysis

Quoted from Live Science, Friday (18/8/2023) became famous since German tourists discovered his mummy in 1991 in the Alps in northern Italy.

This latest study is one of many to study this prehistoric man, including the tools and weapons he carried with him, his clothing, or his last meal.

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In addition, an analytical study of the iceman reveals facts about the climate that occurred during his lifetime and his last travel route before Ötzi was killed in the highlands.

In the new study, researchers studied DNA preserved in Ötzi’s left ilium, the part of his pelvis that also underwent genetic analysis in 2012.

Using improved genetic techniques, the researchers then performed analysis to produce a more complete sequence of the Ötzi genome.

The study found that Ötzi, who died in his mid-40s, had predispositions to male pattern baldness, diabetes, and obesity.

As well as obesity, DNA analysis also showed that Ötzi had darker skin than previously thought and had black hair before he started going bald.

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“Ötzi may have had relatively dark skin and a risk of male pattern baldness,” said lead study author Ke Wang, an archaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

The findings contradict previous assumptions about Ötzi the iceman’s appearance, in which he was often depicted as a light-skinned European with long blond hair.

Albert Zink, a paleoanthropologist and director of the Italian Institute for the Study of Mummy, also believes that the description of the ice man should be updated, although not urgently.

However, in future depictions that can be done must consider factors such as making the skin and hair darker.

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Iceman Ötzi’s ancestor

Findings from DNA analysis also revealed that Ötzi was largely descended from a recent wave of immigrants to Europe from Anatolia (modern Turkey) who brought early agricultural techniques to the continent some 8,000 years ago.

The study findings suggest that Ötzi comes from an isolated Alpine population that rarely interbreeds with other hunter-gatherer groups.

Furthermore, the new study is not the first to reassess who Ötzi was and how he died.

An archaeological study last year established that he may have died somewhere far from where he was found and that his body had been carried away by the movement of the ice.

“Ötzi the Iceman continues to hold new surprises for us, which is remarkable because he is definitely the most investigated archaeological discovery,” said Lars Pilø, an archaeologist who was not involved in the new study.

This iceman DNA analysis study, Ötzi, has been published in the journal Cell Genomics.

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2023-08-18 09:00:00
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