Life in the Copper Age: What Ötzi’s world looked like 5,300 years ago

Across the foothills and valleys of the central Alps, small farming communities lived and farmed in clearings carved from forested land by fire and stone tools.

Families likely lived in small timber or wattle-and-daub dwellings that were made from wood, mud, and straw.

Inside, they stored harvested wheat and barley and grew beans and peas, and they raised pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle for food, leather, wool, and labour.

In colder months, animals may have been kept indoors, which would have kept warmth and protected them from predators, though direct evidence remains limited.

Forests nearby provided firewood, building materials, wild plants and game, which were essential for food and tools, while seasonal movement between upland pastures and valley settlements likely supported both herding and crop rotation. 

At this stage of prehistory, people had probably already begun to experiment with copper, which was an important step in tool production and social status.

Metal was rare and valuable. Although flint blades and polished stone axes continued to be the main tools for everyday use, copper tools allowed a range new uses.

People who learnt copper smelting could cast the metal into axe heads, chisels, and awls, creating objects that were both helpful and gave them social prestige.

Early smelting required pit furnaces that could reach temperatures over 1,000 degrees Celsius, probably fuelled by charcoal and supplied with forced air from blowpipes or bellows.

Ötzi’s copper axe, which was fitted to a yew-wood haft and bound with birch tar and sinew, showed skilled workmanship.

It had been cast rather than hammered, a uncommon method at the time, which meant someone had access to the knowledge, raw materials, and time required to produce it.

Analysis of the axe showed that the copper probably came from southern Tuscany, though alternative sources such as the Balkans have also been proposed. 

Clearly, ownership of certain tools meant a person had access to skilled makers and to trade routes that moved materials across regions.

Ötzi's axe showed minimal wear, which suggested that he probably carried it as a valuable item rather than a work tool.

That alone showed the early social differences based on possessions. His status may have indicated his role as a herdsman, healer, or trader, each of which required specialised knowledge and access to wider trade networks.

Along with his axe, Ötzi carried a range of gear that showed practical knowledge of the alpine environment.

He wore leggings and a coat that were made of strips of goat and deer hide. His shoes were lined with dried grass and had hide soles that were possibly made from bearskin or deer hide and that were suited for rugged ground.

A netting of linden bark fibres helped keep the insulating grass in place, while a grass cloak and fur cap added protection against wind and snow.

He also carried a flint-bladed dagger with a carved ash handle, a quiver filled with unfinished arrow shafts, and a birchbark container that held embers to start fires.

Twelve arrow shafts were found, but only two had stone tips and feather fletching attached.

A wooden frame that was discovered near his body may have formed part of a backpack, possibly the oldest example, if correctly identified.

Two lumps of birch polypore fungus that were tied to leather strips were also found.

Possibly, he carried them as medicine, since the fungus contained antimicrobial properties.

Since tools and materials found with him appeared to have come from different regions, archaeologists can guess the trade networks had already formed by that point in history.

The flint in his blades had probably come from the area south of the Alps, over 100 kilometres from where he died, while the copper in his axe may have come from Tuscany or even farther away (as mentioned above).

As amber came from the Baltic, obsidian from the central Alps, and shells from southern Europe were traded along these networks during Ötzi’s era, people spread raw materials, techniques and ideas across long distances, although such items were not found among his personal belongings.

These trade routes may have followed known Alpine passes such as the Reschen or Brenner corridors. 

By examining Ötzi’s bones, stomach contents, and tissues, scientists also found evidence of physical wear and illness that followed seasonal cycles, as shown by joints that had signs of arthritis.

His teeth were heavily worn, likely from grit in stone-ground flour and plant fibres, while his intestines contained whipworm eggs, which caused abdominal pain and weakness.

CT scans revealed arterial hardening, indicating early atherosclerosis. Shortly before his death, he had eaten red deer and ibex meat along with einkorn wheat and bracken, a combination of farmed cereals and hunted meats supplemented by foraged plants.

Bracken is mildly toxic, so its inclusion may have reflected limited botanical knowledge.

Some have speculated ritual use, though no direct evidence supports this. Tests on his bones and teeth confirmed he had lived most of his life in the region now known as South Tyrol. 

Equally important, his body displayed over sixty tattoos, lines that had soot rubbed into them.

Most appeared on his lower back, knees, and ankles. Since the marks aligned with common pain points, many historians believe they were used as a form of treatment for pain relief.

As his mitochondrial DNA belonged to haplogroup K1, which appeared among Neolithic Europeans but is now rare, and because he carried the medicinal fungus, researchers suggested that Copper Age people had developed a basic understanding of healing methods based on natural remedies and body manipulation.

Toward the end of his life, Ötzi appears to have been involved in a violent incident because an arrowhead lodged in his left shoulder had pierced an artery.

He also had a head injury that had caused brain bleeding, which indicated blunt force trauma.

Earlier studies suggested that blood from multiple individuals had been found on his knife and clothing, though more recent analysis has raised doubts about the number and origin of these blood traces.

Forensic evidence suggested that he may have been ambushed or died from wounds sustained in close combat.

Since he was found alone in a mountain pass, some researchers believe he had escaped a conflict or been ambushed.

Even though the cause was uncertain, the evidence confirmed that violence between people occurred in prehistoric communities, likely over territory, resources, or disputes.

As Ötzi’s accidental preservation in ice prevented this level of information from vanishing, his gear, clothing, food remains, and wounds had given archaeologists a rare, full picture of a single life from over five thousand years ago.

By studying his body, historians confirmed that Copper Age people had already begun to change their world through farming, craft, trade and medicine.

They worked hard, travelled widely, and defended themselves when needed.

Since writing had not yet developed in that part of Europe, no names or oral histories survived.

Yet in his frozen silence, Ötzi spoke more clearly about daily life in prehistoric Europe than any myth or legend ever could.