OetziAn iceman with a yen for moss<Biology News
Analysis of the gut contents from the 5,200-year-old iceman — also known as Frozen Fritz — has shed some light on his lifestyle and upon events leading up to his death. A research team led by James Dickson of the University of Glasgow in the UK identified six different mosses in his intestines. They say that the Iceman probably traveled, injured himself, and then dressed his wounds. Their findings are published in a recent issue, devoted to Oetzi, of the well-known journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. Dickson and his colleagues studied the moss from the Iceman's intestines in order to find out more about his lifestyle (was he a serious moss user, or just a mossy gadabout kind of guy?) and events during the last few days of his life (did thoughts of moss somehow lead to a profound depression that prompted him to leave his family unit and walk off into the depths of a blizzard never to return?). Their paper enumerates and describes all the various mosses Oetzi ate and tries to answer two questions: Where did the he find each type of moss and why did he eat it? Why indeed! Yes! What were these mosses? Oetzi's mossy eatsies, as it were. In particular, Dickson and his colleagues say one moss he ate is likely to have been used as a food wrap (no Saran or tin foil in those days), another was probably swallowed when the Iceman drank water, and yet another was used as a wound dressing (bandaids, too, were still five millennia in the future). One type of moss in the Iceman’s gut is unknown in the region where the mummy was found, which suggests he was something of a traveler — When you're a busy Tyrolean iceman, it's always go, go, go!
Adapted from materials obtained from Springer Verlag
Journal Citation: Dickson, J.H. et al. 2008. Six mosses from the Tyrolean iceman’s alimentary tract and their significance for his ethnobotany and the events of his last days. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. DOI 10.1007/s00334-007-0141-7 
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