BOLZANO, ITALY, June 23 (DC Times Online) — A peer-reviewed study published in the journal Microbiome has identified four cold-adapted yeast species on Ötzi the Iceman’s 5,300-year-old remains, with traces found in skin samples, meltwater inside the mummy and stomach contents, researchers at Eurac Research reported.
The team said it reconstructed the yeasts’ genetics and found the mummy’s remains may act as a “dynamic ecosystem,” where ancient glacier-derived microbes and modern contaminants coexist under museum conditions.
According to the researchers, degraded and modern DNA fragments were found alongside the yeast traces. The study also grew multiple microbe species and produced four viable ones; three were reported to use phenol, a compound used to prevent fungal growth, as a food source.
The researchers said some microbes may have been introduced during Ötzi’s discovery and preservation. The available findings do not establish when each strain arrived, but they add to evidence that the mummy’s preserved body contains a mix of ancient and modern biological material.
Ötzi was discovered in the Alps near the Austria-Italy border in 1991 and is now kept in a cold storage cell at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy. The museum says radiocarbon dating places him at about 3300 BC.
