Bike Trip day 3: Iceman

Tuesday June 21

We stayed in Caldaro for two nights, so Tuesday's ride was a loop to Bolzano and back. This is a typical view of our rides:

Bolzano is another city of mixed Austrian/Italian culture. This church (whose name I have disrespectfully forgotten) reminded me of St. Stephen's (as I remember) in Vienna:

Less culturally specific is this new addition to my collection of door-knockers:

and what may or may not be a reference to the bulls and bears of the stock market:

All of this was very nice on a warm day, but the best was the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, the home of Ötzi the Iceman. The whole museum is devoted to their discovery of his body and accoutrements in 1991, and all the science applied to understanding the discovery ever since. Photographs are not allowed, so I can't show you directly what we saw; go to www.iceman.it for the whole story. The summary is this:

Two hikers found a seriously decomposed body in the Schnalstal glacier in the Ötztaler Alps. Various theories arose about the age of the body and the circumstances of its being there, and it was eventually determined that the Iceman (called Ötzi) is a uniquely well-preserved (actually freeze-dried) relic of the Copper Age. He is believed to have lived about 5300 years ago. All kinds of archeological research has been done on every aspect of his body -- e.g., intestinal contents, DNA, fingernails -- through non-invasive techniques like CAT scans. His clothing and tools have been similarly analyzed in thorough detail, and all of this is linked to research on the plants, animals, rocks, climatic conditions, and anything else you can imagine of his time and place. 

The museum has very informative exhibits on all of this -- and nothing else. It's only about Ötzi and everything related to him. It's very focused and totally fascinating. You can even see the body, through a little window into a chamber where it is kept at a constant temperature, with some mix of nitrogen in the atmosphere and a regular spray of water, to preserve it.

All amazing. Go: www.iceman.it