Iceman Mummy Blood Is Oldest Discovered (PHOTO)
What are believed to be the oldest red blood cells ever observed have been documented by researchers studying the body of a 5,300-year-old corpse found frozen in the Italian Alps in 1991.
The man, given the name "Oetzi" by scientists, has gashes on his body that suggest he was fatally wounded and left for dead in the mountains, in what is described as the world's oldest murder mystery, the BBC reported.
Oetzi was discovered by hikers in the Alps who found the remarkably preserved remains. Examinations by scientists concluded that he died with an arrow buried in his back, and were even able to determine what his last meal was. What has not been established so far is whether he simply died where he fell, or if he was actually buried there by others.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The new study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society, examines the blood found around his wounds, which by all accounts are the oldest ever discovered by science. In earlier research, Prof. Albert Zink and his team from the Eurac Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy published Oetzi's full genome, and used a technique known as atomic force microscopy to examine, thin slices of tissue taken from an area surrounding the arrow wound to give them a better idea of the circumstances behind the ancient man's death.
It was this sample that found the doughnut-shaped red blood cells still preserved in Oetzi's body. To make sure that what they were seeing really were red blood cells, the team used a form of laser-based technology, called Raman spectroscopy, which indicated the presence of haemoglobin and the clot-associated protein fibrin, which are found in human blood.
