Fowler, Brenda. Iceman; uncovering the life and times of a prehistoric man found in an Alpine glacier.Univ. of Chicago Press. 315p. illus. notes, bibliog. index. c2000. 0-226-25823-8. $15.00. SA In September 1991, a couple hiking near the Italy/Austria border found a 5,300-year-old mummified mum·mi·fy v. mum·mi·fied, mum·mi·fy·ing, mum·mi·fies v.tr. 1. To make into a mummy by embalming and drying. 2. To cause to shrivel and dry up. v.intr. man half-submerged in a mountain glacier. He was called Otzi, Hauslabjoch Man and Homo tirolensis, but the name that stuck in the popular imagination was Iceman Iceman Body of a man found sealed in a glacier in the Tirolean Ötztal Alps in 1991 and dated to 3300 BC. It has revealed significant details of everyday life during the Neolithic Period. . Journalist Fowler's account, written as an unfolding mystery, is partly about the scientific detective work that sought to interpret the find and partly about the swirl of personalities and politics that has surrounded it. She tells about what has been learned about the corpse and his times by researchers, the scientists' egos and intellectual involvement, the manipulations that sought or granted or restricted access, and the unrelenting media frenzy it attracted. Readers will have to decide whether to admire or disdain the University of Innsbruck's archeologist Konrad Spindler and anatomist a·nat·o·mist n. An expert in or a student of anatomy. anatomist one skilled in anatomy. Werner Platzer. For six years they had scientific oversight of the studies. They preserved and controlled the mummy and information released about it and raised the huge amount of money that was needed. Not all wishes, they knew, could be fulfilled. If the public and media had been allowed the access they clamored for, the mummy would have deteriorated quickly and early guesses would have become established as fact (some did). If everyone who wanted a sample had got one, the entire corpse would soon have been reduced to tiny pieces. An especially intriguing thread in the story has to do with the work of Roswitha Goedecker-Ciolek, the technician who conserved and assembled the Iceman's clothing and who identified the amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. leggings leg·ging n. 1. A leg covering usually extending from the ankle to the knee and often made of material such as leather or canvas, worn especially by soldiers and workers. 2. leggings a. . Line drawings recreate the fashion of a very ancient time and there are b/w photographs of the mummy and personalities surrounding the Iceman. Visitors can now see him at the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology in Bolzano, Italy. Superbly written popular science and a satisfying look at a serendipitous ser·en·dip·i·ty n. pl. ser·en·dip·i·ties 1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. 2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries. 3. An instance of making such a discovery. find that continues to tickle See Tcl/Tk and tickle packet. (text, tool) Tickle - A text editor, file translator and TCL interpreter for the Macintosh. Version 5.0v1. The text editor breaks the 32K limit (like MPW). the curiosity of almost everybody. Edna M. Boardman, Minot, ND |
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