Where is Ötzi from? A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Research in Bozen analyzed the genome of the Iceman using the latest methods. Accordingly, it had a Mediterranean-European skin type and was darker than originally thought. Compared to his contemporaries, the geneticists found that Ötzi had a high proportion of “Anatolian” genetic material. This points to his farming ancestors and suggests a relatively isolated way of life for the inhabitants of the Alps. The hunter-gatherers of Western Europe merged into early “Anatolian” farmers who migrated from the Middle East about 8,000 years ago.
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