The Discovery of Mystery of Iceman Death - Essay Example

“‘Mystery of Iceman Death” Several theories have been proposed with so many articles being written about the civilization of human being, when the great civilization actually began. For such reasons, modern humans have looked at themselves as the symbol of modernity owing to the characteristics they possess both by their ailments and their technology. A good example is the notion that the roots of civilization dates back to the period before the invention of writing (Webster). This puts Agriculture revolution to be the main marker of this period (Colin). The discovery of Otzi the mummy has brought so many questions to light with regards not only to how worthy these claims are but also to the ancient way of life of the past ancestors. The discovery of a man having a copper ax at a time when such thing was not a thing of imagination also begs the question of how accurate the historical dating and recordings are. Many hypotheses were put to explain the discovery of a body in the mount Alps buried in the glacier, the nature of his death and the accuracy of the scientific technology (James). This amazing discovery is what prompted the scripting and finally production of the movie bearing the title “Iceman Murder Mystery’’. The movie bears all the processes that were involved from the discovery to the final autopsy procedures conducted on the mummified copse of Otzi. The movie however, according to how it was directed depicts or portrays a different theme all together. According to my understanding, the movie tries to portray the fact that human nature remains the same despite the level of advancement achieved in technology and thinking. For this reason, I tend to share a common understanding with Eduard Egarter Vigl on the connection he felt with the Mummy after looking at his face, position of the body and mortality in general. For this reason, was I to be the director of the movie, I would have named or titled it “Otzi the Stone Age modern man: A Reflection Of human Socio-cultural connectedness to the Past”. The movie in my observation was cast to reflect in the human nature that never changes despite the number of years that pass by. This is supported by almost all the theories that were put forward to explain the cause of death of the Mummy. The theory that now support this argument even further is the one that is seen to be favoured most about the death resulting from not, an animal, not another skirmishes, not any falling glacier but a person from the inside of where Otzi was coming from. This though not well explained in the article, probably resulted from another jealous member of the clan he lived in. Otzi was a complex person who seemed to be well advanced than other folks from where he was coming from. He had a copper ax while most of his folks were still navigating through the Stone Age technology of using stones for almost everything. This probably earned him a status in the community. In fact from the food materials that were extracted from his stomach, it is clearly obvious that this guy was well fed, a characteristic of a person of high status in a community (PBS). This is a clear evidence to support the human nature of competition for power, jealousy, dominance, recognition and last but very important, the cruel nature of solving things hence the path from which assassination passed through to the modern society. Humans of today are so full of these characteristics from better treatment accorded to persons holding high offices to the several assassination attempts made on their lives by people who either hate their ideologies or just schemers working on ways to eliminate them and rise to their offices. This is categorized as homicide case in United States of America. This is a case that was well investigated and has pulled the strains on the scientific reconstruction of scenes and autopsy investigation. Scientific investigation done on the Mummy was so properly conducted with a lot of professionalism being put in it. Initially the discovery belonged in the Museum but due to the need to learn so much about the way of life during the days of the Mummy, scientists were allowed to conduct their tests on it. They on the other hand never disappointed going by the professionalism they reflected even during the process of cutting through the body to remove the arrow head that was embedded in an area that would motivated an unprofessional person just a second to damagingly cut the body with disregard to keeping the body intact. It is reported that the scientists had so little time (9 hours) to operate and finish up with the body. This plus other pressures piled on them did not deter them from taking every care not to damage the body during the autopsy. The procedure involved included a CAT scan which showed a dark spot on the back of his head. This would have suggested the cause of death to be a hit with a blunt object, but this was not conclusive so they proceeded to study the brain sample to examine the presence of clotted blood. This is a procedure that require modern equipment like computer-controlled endoscope and skilled man power. The next step was the several X-rays technologies application him to shed more light on the cause of death. This was not the only scientific procedure applied on the mummy. Scientist had also conducted the process that employed techniques of salvaging and sequencing of DNA in an attempt to identify which color his eyes were, the medical history, the color of the body and many other revelation that can be made using only DNA testing. This is what also led to the discovery of another DNA in his borne, one which was attributed to a microbe that causes Lyme disease symptomed by swelling joints and arthritis. This a disease that is still common today. This procedure through genome sequencing also lead to the discovery of a marker for heart disease. This is a disease that before then, was believed to belong to the humans of this century who do not exercise enough. The other scientific method was the removal and testing of the food obtained from the stomach that revealed the nature of diet that Otzi was taking and the food he had just taken before he met the cause of his death. Basically, these revelations about Otzi a man who lived over 5000 years ago reminded scientists that despite the time difference, man was biologically and socially the same. They have the same diseases, life motivations, lifestyles. This plus the other discovery made them to also believe that Ortzi was murdered by a man from the people he must have trusted to be close to him and that he had a high status in the family, and enjoyed good life going by what he was wearing at the time of his death and the content of his backpack and stomach. Conclusion These discoveries about the social life of the Otzi amazed me because I never know that humans were still the same and connected by their social lives. The discovery that a person could be studied to an extent that his movement gets discovered by analysis of the pollen in his throat was just amazing. I even dint know that Lyme disease is this old yet it has never been eradicated with the complex scientific materials we have developed that could analyze even the food a person took 500 years ago with that precision. DNA reconstruction is just amazing. In general, the film not succeeded in conveying the message but ended up even shedding more light in areas that people never knew before. It brings to the question the accuracy of the history we are being told about these ancestors. Works Cited Colin, Tugin. Neanderthals and Bandits and farmers: How Agriculture really began. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1998. Iceman Murder Mystery. Dir. PBS. 24th October, 2012. James, Deem. "Theories about his death." 2012. James M Deemss Mummys tombs. 5th May 2015. . Webster, H. World history. Boston: DC Heath, 1921. Read More