 Today, I'll be talking about the Iceman, a Neolithic mummy found high in the Alps. I doubt there's anyone in this room who has not heard something about him. And if there is, I suspect you've wandered into the wrong annual meeting. I've used the word reflections in the title of my talk today because I'm not an expert on the European Neolithic. On the other hand, I've spent years researching sacred landscape in other parts of the world while working with the Iceman and Specialists on our frozen Andean mummies. My interest in the Iceman grew. I began to think of areas that seemed to warrant further research and personal visits to the Iceman site. Today, I hope to demonstrate that a theoretical approach focused on sacred landscape can provide additional insights into the circumstances surrounding the Iceman's death and the place where it occurred. Increasingly, there has been awareness of the important roles at landscape and ecology played in the lives of Neolithic peoples and that beliefs about them led to impressive rock art, monumental structures, and the selection of places to make offerings to the deified forces of nature. Among these, mountains played important roles due to their being sources of water and of the weather that affected the fertility of crops and livestock. These beliefs are based on ecological facts and is no surprise that they have found in traditional cultures around the world, both in the present and in the very distant past. We all appreciate the Alps as a beautiful snow-covered region which enjoys sports and other activities, but this was not the case during the Neolithic when concern was focused on the utilizing of resources and surviving in the lower mountain valleys, a difficult task in itself. The discovery of the frozen body of the Iceman demonstrated that humans had adapted to great heights and extreme conditions in the Alps as early as the Neolithic. Because his body was found at over 3,000 meters on a high pass on the border of Italy and in Austria, it was first assumed that he had died from exposure. An aerial view over the Oates-style range makes clear the relationship of sources of water from the mountains to the surrounding valleys. One of the highest peaks in the range is Mount Similon, thanks to Google's little red balloon. It's located in the center of the Massif and marked here with the red balloon. The fertile Vincicow Valley to the left was where the Iceman spent most of his time. There are few routes that penetrate the Massif even today and the only one that crosses between two of the highest peaks and the one that was used by the Iceman is the one here in the center, the arrow pointing to where the Iceman was found. Recent studies have concluded that this route was little used for transhumans during the Iceman's time, nor was there a major Neolithic settlement in the valley to the north of the pass. This meant that there was unlikely that the Iceman had died as a result of a dispute over land boundaries or over grounds used for the grazing of herds, such as some theories suggested. There was also little trade with people in the north and the theory that he'd been hunting when he died is also unlikely given that his hunting equipment was unusable. So just what was the Iceman doing in such a formidable place? Uval Castle is situated on a Neolithic site and it's at the entrance. For those who are curious, I think Rinal Messner still owns it today. This is the path, the route anyway, that the Iceman used to get up to the pass where he eventually was found. A side valley leads from the modern-day lake at Frenacht and follows the river to the pass with the illustrator here in the background. This provides a vertical perspective looking down on two of the highest peaks in the old style Massif. And the arrow here in between is one that marks the Iceman site. The article on the right, the route on the right, shows the one at least down to a couple of Neolithic sites, not actual settlements but sites. And it kind of spins off here to where the Iceman was found at each another peak, one of the highest peaks in the range. The Iceman site is here, it was marked here, of course covered in snow right now. To give you a sense of scale, these are people. And that is about similar to one of the highest peaks of the old style range. The Iceman site, this is what they are right here, again covered in snow as it normally is. And this is Finalech, it's one of the other two of the highest peaks in the range. It turns out that the sun actually sets here at the June solstice. And the sun has been depicted, of course, on rock art on the stone men here. And solstices have been found as important throughout Neolithic sites in Europe. The place where the Iceman was found is usually covered in snow, it was actually here. It's an interesting, keep this in mind, is the red colored nice rock, which kind of borders the site. Here, again, a worry was found in Similown as it turns out the solstice sun rises from behind it in December. So you have basically the passage of the sun buried in the entire solar year. It was actually found at this spot. And the cap, and part of the mat or cloak, as some people think, was actually found in this spot right here. What I think hasn't been noticed is this formation right here that virtually looks like almost an altar burial site. The artifacts like the bow backpack frame and ax were found here, a little bit up five meters from where the body was found. Deep gullies are rare on mountain passes in the Alps. The sides of this gully provide general protection, and the deepness allows for water to freeze and snow to remain, and thus help preserve organic material, creating a kind of refrigerator. Dr. Hoffner found only two similar gullies in a search for them on passes in the Swiss Alps. In one of the two, he recovered neolithic items similar to those with the ice man. A particular interest is a boulder in which the ice man was found. And it's likely that I feel that he was originally placed in the hollow space here. That's the lowest point. I think that then later, the body was slightly moved, as we've had, of course, the freezing, melting, and movement of the glacier and so forth. This natural refrigerator, completely with its own defrosting, along with the freezing nighttime temperatures, would have helped preserve the body until it was covered by snow. As alpinous snow, this probably would not be long in coming. The location of the ice man thus begins to make logical sense. It lies between two of the highest peaks that give origin to water in the valleys below. The December winter solstice rises from behind one of them and sets behind the other at the June summer solstice, marking the sun's yearly passage. The place is a gully, natural protected, both in general terms and by a hollow space wide enough to allow a body to be fit in at its lowest point. The cloak and the matting that were supposedly found with the ice man also could have been used to help cover him at the time. Of course, this would have helped prevent decomposition. Open-air sanctuaries have long been noted in the Neolithic. And distinguishing ritual sites from secular ones is still a problem for archaeologists working a couple of millennia later. Whatever happened that led to the ice man being killed by an arrow appears likely that his body and equipment were especially placed. And since this was at the time of death, it means that they were richly treated. Here I use the definition of ritual offered by Alexander, a performance that affects a transition from everyday life to an alternative context. This just provides the drawing of where the ice man was actually found in 1991. This is where the cap was. My theory is that the body was actually in here and then moved slightly. Years after the ice man had been found, it was covered that he had been hit by an arrow, one shot caused certain and virtually immediate death. The bowman was likely close to the ice man to a place that a shot that was near perfect. The ice man hadn't been in good health when he reached the pass. However, he had eaten a meal before ascending to it. He even ate ibex and deer meat while above 3,000 meters within a few hours of his death. These meals of meat were not part of his normal eating habits. The types and the conditions of the artifacts found with him add to the impression that he was not fleeing an enemy or making a normal crossing at the pass. 12 of the 14 arrows had not been finished. And two that were complete appeared to him deliberately broken. The bow was also unfinished. That's nothing of the bow and arrow assembly which was usable. The dagger also had a broken tip. Deliberately richly ritual breaking of weapons at barrels had been found elsewhere in Europe and some sites dating to the Neolithic. No artifact has brought more attention to scholars than the copper axe. Barely used, it is one of the earliest known copper axes in the region and copper tools marked the beginning of metallurgy. It therefore must have had considerable value at the time that it was not taken instead laid near the bow and the backpack. When taken together, the amount, the variety, and the condition of the ice man's clothing and equipment suggests that he was not an ordinary journey when he died. It's now up to go sort of beyond the personal ice man story. It's difficult to understand the Neolithic mind of five millennia ago. No written records exist. And of course, evidence has been lost and destroyed. However, Neolithic rock art and burial suggest the ice man shared a broad cosmological view of the world with other populations in the region. Three of the most important rocksites in the Alps are found at Nalpego, here, at Valcomonica, and at Lagundo near the ice man's home. The interpretations of rock carvings vary, but in broad terms, they support a primary reason for their function relating to fertility. And two of these three areas have all been tied to sacred mountain worship. But we're more interested in the region near to the ice man, where menhirs appear along with petroglyphs. They were mainly just petroglyphs around Montbego. Valcomonica is not far distant from the ice man's home territory, and he must have known about it, possibly even visited it. The flint, for example, used by the ice man, came from the Lassani Mountains. And they were even more distant than Valcomonica. And the artifacts that were found in Remedillo burials here were virtually still further away and identically to those found with the ice man. The Neolithic rock carvings and the stone menders have often been interpreted as being linked to fertility and sacred landscape. Supporting mountain worship at Valcomonica is the associate of the sun's passage aligning with mountains that dominate the horizon, as seen from the prominent rock carvings. Here's an incredible system of petroglyphs. The interpretation of mountain worship is influenced by the sun's passage. And in this case, one of the examples that was used by archaeologists there is that the sun rises and sets at the equinox behind two peaks. This one happens to be the setting sun at the equinox when I happen to be there. The depictions of anthropomorphic figures on men here is suggested by the carvings of daggers and axons above a belt. Sun worships have been assumed due to the existence of sun symbols on several of the men here. They've been interpreted as either for worship of ancestors, warrior ancestors, or of deities. In short, to have been used in rituals. The church at Lodge, located right at the opening towards the Schnauz Valley, where the Iceman went up to the past, had an altar stone that turned out to be actually a men here. Depicted on it was one of the few scenes carved in the Neolithic Alps of one man killing another. In this case, of a man being shot in the back by an arrow. Whether or not this refers to the Iceman can't be proven. But the men here's location in the home area of the Iceman. It's dating to roughly the same time period. And the axe depiction on a ritual stone monument does suggest that the carving portrays an important ritual of it, not a secular killing. When we examine the context in which the Iceman was killed, the location, the manner of his death, the types and condition of the items with him, and the sight allowing for his body's preservation, it becomes more likely to me that the Iceman received ritual treatment at the time of his death. And since he was killed at or near that site, this naturally leads to the possibility that he was a ritual sacrifice. The Iceman was a remarkable discovery. Our any interpretation of his death should take into account that he died in an exceptional way at a unique site that was itself situated in an exceptional location. And finally, that all occurred in the heart of the Alps, one of the world's most dramatic mountain landscapes. Thank you.