BOLZANO, ITALY, June 23 (DC Times Online) — A peer-reviewed study in the journal Microbiome has identified four cold-adapted yeast species on Ötzi the Iceman’s remains, adding evidence that the 5,300-year-old mummy preserves a mix of ancient glacier microbes and later contaminants, according to Eurac Research scientists.
The team said it reconstructed the yeasts’ genetics and found traces in skin samples, meltwater inside the mummy and stomach contents. It also reported recovering multiple microbe species and producing four viable ones, with three apparently able to use phenol, a compound used to limit fungal growth, as a food source.
The authors described Ötzi’s body as a dynamic biological interface in museum storage, where ancient glacier-derived microbes and modern contaminants can coexist. At the same time, they said some of the organisms may have been introduced during discovery or preservation, so the study does not show that every microbe found on the mummy was present while he was alive.
Ötzi was found in the Alps in 1991 near the Austria-Italy border. The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, says radiocarbon dating places him around 3300 BC and makes him Europe’s oldest known natural human mummy.
