TUESDAY, Sept. 17, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Cereals, plants and meat were the last foods eaten by a prehistoric man whose frozen body was found in the Italian Alps in 1991, says a study in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Tyrolean Iceman, also known as Otzi, died more than 5,000 years ago and was preserved in the alpine ice. He was found with leather clothing, a copper axe, a bow and arrows. Scientists believe he was a hunter or warrior from the Late Neolithic period.
To determine Otzi's final menu choices, Italian researchers did a DNA analysis on the contents of his intestines after he was fully defrosted in September 2000. They combined that with previously reported data.
The results suggest the Iceman's second last meal consisted of cereals, plants and ibex meat, eaten as he traveled through an intermediate-altitude coniferous forest. His last meal was red deer meat and, possibly, cereals. He died in a high-altitude rocky basin.
The researchers say the findings confirm the importance of red deer meat to people of the Late Neolithic Alpine culture. They also say the results support the hypothesis that Otzi, who had an arrowhead embedded in his left shoulder, was attacked by rival big game hunters.
Another recent study also revealed another glimpse of the eating habits of our ancestors. Analysis of a 7,700-year-old female thigh bone found in England showed the woman ate almost as much meat as a wolf.
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For more on ancestral diets, check this out.
