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South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology (german: Südtiroler Archäologiemuseum; it, Museo archeologico dell'Alto Adige) is an archaeological
Official website
Museums of the Province of Bolzano-Bozen - Museum of Archaeology
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Bolzano Archaeological museums in Italy Museums in South Tyrol Museums established in 1998
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology (german: Südtiroler Archäologiemuseum; it, Museo archeologico dell'Alto Adige) is an archaeological museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
in the city of Bolzano
Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third ...
, South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous province
, image_skyline =
, image_alt ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. It is the home of the preserved body of Ötzi the Iceman
Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi") on the border between Austria and Italy.
Ötzi is believed to ...
.
History
The museum was specifically established in 1998 to house "Ötzi", a well-preserved naturalmummy
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...
of a man from about 3300 BC
The 33rd century BC was a century that lasted from the year 3300 BC to 3201 BC. It is impossible to precisely date events that happened around the time of this millennium and all dates mentioned here are estimates mostly based on geological and ant ...
(53 centuries ago).. This is the world's oldest natural human mummy, a wet mummy, as opposed to mummies preserved by dry conditions in a desert environment. It has offered an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', " stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
) European culture. The world's oldest complete copper age axe was found among his extensive equipment which also comprised a rather complex fire lighting kit and a quiver
A quiver is a container for holding arrows, bolts, ammo, projectiles, darts, or javelins. It can be carried on an archer's body, the bow, or the ground, depending on the type of shooting and the archer's personal preference. Quivers were trad ...
loaded with twelve arrows, only two of which were finished, clothing and a flint knife complete with its sheath
Sheath pronounced as , may refer to:
* Scabbard, a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade, as well as guns, such as rifles.
* The outer covering of a cable
* Condom, a kind of contraception
* Debye sheath, a layer of a plasma ...
.
The body is held in a climate controlled chamber within the museum at a temperature of -6 Celsius and 98% humidity, replicating glacier conditions in which it was found. Along with original finds there are models, reconstructions and multimedia presentations showing Ötzi in the context of the early history of the southern Alpine region.
Converted from a 19th-century bank building, the museum covers the history and archaeology of the southern Alpine region from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic (15,000 B.C.) up to 800 A.D. In 2006, the museum hosted an exhibition on the mummies of the Chachapoyas culture
The Chachapoyas, also called the "Warriors of the Clouds", was a culture of the Andes living in the cloud forests of the southern part of the Department of Amazonas of present-day Peru. The Inca Empire conquered their civilization shortly bef ...
.
References
Further reading
* .External links
Official website
Museums of the Province of Bolzano-Bozen - Museum of Archaeology
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Bolzano Archaeological museums in Italy Museums in South Tyrol Museums established in 1998