Ötzi the Iceman
A last meal far away from the table.
In 1991, a pair of hikers in the Italian Alps discovered the mummy of a man exposed by a retreating glacier in the border area between Italy and Austria. The discovery was an archaeological sensation. Due to the 5300 years the mummy had been laying in the snow and ice, the body dehydrated, i.e. much of the body fluid was lost.
Most mummies were treated with substances to preserve them as part of ritual burial after their organs had been removed. Ötzi -as he came to be known- is unique in that he has been preserved almost in his entirety.
While he was crossing the Ötztal Valley Alps in South Tyrol he was murdered with an arrow in his back. Ötzi was around 45 years old then, 1.60 m tall and he would have weight about 50 kg. The events surrounding Ötzi's death are still debated. His recent wounds point to violent conflict, or may be Ötzi fled into the mountains while being hunted down. But his last meal suggests that he was well prepared for his trek.
Ötzi’s stomach wasn't where it was supposed to be. The misplaced organ eluded researchers for some 20 years. But in 2009, while looking at new radiographic scans, they finally found it—inexplicably pushed up under his ribs, where the lower lungs usually sit. What's more, it was completely full. They determined Ötzi’s final meal: dried ibex meat and fat, red deer, einkorn wheat, and traces of toxic fern.
We don't know if this was a meal on the go – this year’s theme of the Oxford Food Symposium - or not and we don’t know what provisions he carried with him either. But for sure his last meal was a meal far away from any table.
Ötzi’s mummy and his artefacts have been exhibited at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy since 1998. It is stored at -6 degrees Celsius (21.2 degrees Fahrenheit) to prevent microbial invasion.
The Ötzi you see here in the FoodMuseum is a lifelike reconstruction created by the Dutch paleo artists Alfons and Adrie Kennis on behalf of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in 2011. Since 1988, the brothers have made numerous models of prehistoric people for museums in Europe and the USA.
Sources:
-www.iceman.it
-The Iceman’s Last meal Consisted of Fat, Wild Meat, and Cereals. In: Current Biology
Report| Volume 28, ISSUE 14, p 2348-2355. E9, July 23, 2018
-Straus, C: Ötzi by Kennis & Kennis.
In: Fleckinger, A. (ed.): Ötzi 2.0 Eine Mumie zwischen Wissenschaft, Kult und Mythos. Theiss, Stuttgart 2011 p. 96-10
Ötzi the Iceman
A last meal far away from the table.
In 1991, a pair of hikers in the Italian Alps discovered the mummy of a man exposed by a retreating glacier in the border area between Italy and Austria. The discovery was an archaeological sensation. Due to the 5300 years the mummy had been laying in the snow and ice, the body dehydrated, i.e. much of the body fluid was lost.
Most mummies were treated with substances to preserve them as part of ritual burial after their organs had been removed. Ötzi -as he came to be known- is unique in that he has been preserved almost in his entirety.
While he was crossing the Ötztal Valley Alps in South Tyrol he was murdered with an arrow in his back. Ötzi was around 45 years old then, 1.60 m tall and he would have weight about 50 kg. The events surrounding Ötzi's death are still debated. His recent wounds point to violent conflict, or may be Ötzi fled into the mountains while being hunted down. But his last meal suggests that he was well prepared for his trek.
Ötzi’s stomach wasn't where it was supposed to be. The misplaced organ eluded researchers for some 20 years. But in 2009, while looking at new radiographic scans, they finally found it—inexplicably pushed up under his ribs, where the lower lungs usually sit. What's more, it was completely full. They determined Ötzi’s final meal: dried ibex meat and fat, red deer, einkorn wheat, and traces of toxic fern.
It’s hard to determine if this was a meal on the go – this year’s theme of the Oxford Food Symposium - or not and we don’t know what provisions he carried with him. But for sure his last meal was a meal far away from any table.
Ötzi’s mummy and his artefacts have been exhibited at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy since 1998. It is stored at -6 degrees Celsius (21.2 degrees Fahrenheit) to prevent microbial invasion.
The Ötzi visiting the FoodMuseum is a lifelike reconstruction created by the Dutch paleo artists Alfons and Adrie Kennis on behalf of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in 2011. Since 1988, the brothers have made numerous models of prehistoric people for museums in Europe and the USA.
Sources:
-www.iceman.it
-The Iceman’s Last meal Consisted of Fat, Wild Meat, and Cereals.
In: Current Biology Report| Volume 28, ISSUE 14, p 2348-2355. E9, July 23, 2018
-Straus, C: Ötzi by Kennis & Kennis.
In: Fleckinger, A. (ed.): Ötzi 2.0 Eine Mumie zwischen Wissenschaft, Kult und Mythos. Theiss, Stuttgart 2011 p. 96-105
'Alles van waarde is bederfelijk'
Wie meer wil weten over culturen in de wereld moet beginnen met 'food'.
Food is diep verankerd in iedere cultuur. Een maaltijd is een kruispunt van rituelen en tradities, die mensen met elkaar verbindt en culturen van elkaar onderscheidt.
Het FoodMuseum verzamelt en presenteert voedsel in de context van culturen. Het vertelt verhalen achter voorwerpen en tradities vanuit verschillende perspectieven: historisch, antropologisch en gastronomisch. Van eeuwenoude Chinese tradities tot part-time vegetariërs, van Hollandse Nieuwe to Marokkaanse b'stilla, van eetbare aarde tot zeekomkommers: 'food' biedt een unieke ingang tot identiteit en diversiteit binnen een land, een stad of een buurt.
Het museum initieert projecten en tentoonstellingen of werkt samen met initiatieven en collecties van anderen.
Niets staat vast in het FoodMuseum. Het groeit organisch, afhankelijk van de kansen die zich voordoen en wat de actualiteit ons brengt.
Concept en ontwerp:
Linda Roodenburg (Rotterdam, NL)
IT: Olivier Hokke (Delft, NL)
Het FoodMuseum bestaat sinds 2012 onder de hoede van Stichting Madame Jeanet.
Bestuur:
Jisca Bijlsma (Rotterdam)
Mariëtte Bode (Rotterdam)
Els Toxopeus (Usquert)
Caroline van Tuyll van Serooskerken (Amsterdam)
Geïnteresseerd in een samenwerkingsproject met het FoodMuseum?
De mogelijkheden zijn onbeperkt in tijd en ruimte.
Contact:
info@foodmuseum.nl
of
info@lindaroodenburg.com
The Oxford Symposium of Food & Cookery 2022
8- 10 July at St Catz and July 15-31 Online
This year’s topic will be:
PORTABLE FOOD: FOOD AWAY FROM THE TABLE
Founded by food historian Alan Davidson and social historian Theodore Zeldin, the oldest-established and most respected of its kind, the Oxford Symposium of Food & Cookery is a network of food writers, historians, chefs, scientists, archeologists, paleontologists, botanists, and anyone else with more than just an interest in food.
The annual Symposium exists to celebrate, explore, and share leading food research from around the world in a collaborative, collegial, and inclusive environment.
Our goal is to change the conversation around food, expand the table and improve the plate, through lively debate and the annual publication of our Symposium Proceedings.
For more information and registration : https://www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk
