Otzi the prehistoric iceman used moss as first aid to heal wounds, say scientists
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:13 PM on 02nd December 2008
A 5,300-year-old deep frozen hunter used moss as a primitive form of first aid, scientists have discovered.
Glasgow University researcher James Dickson has revealed that Otzi the Neolithic iceman had six different types of the plant in his stomach when he died.
One called sphagnum imbricatum, is a natural antiseptic and could have been used to heal wounds that were found on his back and hands.
First aider: Otzi the iceman had six species of moss in his stomach, leading scientists to believe he used the plant for its healing properties
Mosses are still used today by homeopaths and healers as alternatives to medicine.
Another moss found in his stomach is thought to have been used to wrap his food and keep it fresh.
'If he knew of the useful properties of bog mosses, as seems entirely plausible, then he may have gathered some to staunch the wound or wounds,' writes Dickson in the December issue of the journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany.
'So tiny pieces could well have stuck to the blood drying on his fingers and then he accidentally ingested some of them when next eating meat or bread as we know he did during his last few days,' he adds.
However scientists do not know why he digested the other four types of moss.
Otzi the iceman was found in September 1991 by German tourists on the 3,000 metre (9,000 feet) high Similaun glacier in the Oetz Valley.
His perfectly preserved body is stored in a cold storage chamber at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Italy at a constant temperature of -6°C.
The iceman has been crucial to our understanding of how prehistoric people lived, what they wore and even what they ate.
He is believed to have died from exhaustion and an old, unhealed arrow wound at the age of about 45.
The prehistoric hunter was frozen in a mountain glacier with all his possessions including a bow, a quiver of arrows and a copper axe.
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