BOLZANO, ITALY, June 23 (DC Times Online) — A peer-reviewed study in the journal Microbiome says scientists identified four cold-adapted yeast species on Ötzi the Iceman, adding to evidence that the 5,300-year-old mummy can preserve traces of ancient microbes under museum conditions.
Researchers at Eurac Research said they reconstructed the yeasts’ genetics from samples taken from Ötzi’s skin, meltwater inside the mummy and stomach contents. The team also reported degraded and modern DNA fragments, which they said point to a mixed microbial environment shaped by both ancient glacier microbes and contamination introduced after discovery.
The study describes Ötzi’s remains as a “dynamic biological interface” where ancient and modern microbes coexist. In a separate description cited by ScienceAlert, first author Mohamed Sarhan said a mummy’s microbiome is unusual because it can contain microbes that are more than 5,000 years old alongside microbes introduced after excavation.
The researchers said they grew multiple microbe species and produced four viable ones, with three reportedly able to use phenol — a compound used to prevent fungal growth — as a food source. The findings were published in Microbiome, indicating the work has passed peer review.
Ötzi was discovered in the Alps in 1991 and is housed at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, in a special cold cell designed to mimic glacial conditions. The museum says radiocarbon dating places him in the Copper Age, around 3300 BC, and that analyses suggest he was murdered.
