Ötzi, the Iceman and his Leather Clothes

Authors

  • Alois G. Püntener VESLIC Verein Schweizerischer Lederindustrie-Chemiker und -Techniker, c/o Dr. A.G. Püntener, Postfach 505, CH-4016 Basel;, Email: veslic@hotmail.ch
  • Serge Moss Novartis Pharma AG, Forum 1, Novartis Campus, CH-4056 Basel;, Email: serge.moss@novartis.com

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2010.315

Keywords:

Ancient tanning method, Iceman, Infrared spectroscopy, Neolithic leather clothing

Abstract

Over 5000 years ago, a man climbed up to the icy heights of the glacier in South Tyrol, Italy and died. He was found by accident in 1991, with his clothes and equipment, mummified and frozen: an archaeological sensation and a unique snapshot of a Copper Age man. For several years highly specialised research teams have examined the mummy and all accompanying items. This paper describes how fur and leather clothes of the iceman could have been tanned. Details of the analytical tests undertaken on the 5000 year old leather samples and what they revealed are presented.
CHIMIA Vol. 64 No. 5 (2010): Hot Topics

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Published

2010-05-26

Issue

Vol. 64 No. 5 (2010): Hot Topics

Section

Note

License

Copyright (c) 2010 Swiss Chemical Society

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

[1]
A. G. Püntener, S. Moss, Chimia 2010, 64, 315, DOI: 10.2533/chimia.2010.315.