Although Ötzi the Iceman has been dead for 5,300 years, his legacy is still kickin’ in newly-found living relatives.
Researchers discovered the family members by performing DNA tests on blood donated by 3,700 people in western Austria, not far from the Alps where Ötzi was found melting out of a glacier in 1991. The results showed 19 of those donors shared a unique genetic mutation with the mummified ice man.
“These men and the Iceman had the same ancestors,” said forensic scientist Walther Parson in his announcement to the Austrian Press Agency.
Researchers take a sample from Iceman's hip to begin the sequencing process. Image credit: Samadelli Marco/EURAC
Researchers take a sample from Iceman’s hip to begin the sequencing process. Image credit: Samadelli Marco/EURAC
Ötzi’s genome was sequenced in its entirety last year using a sample of hip bone. Scientists had used these initial findings to study how he was ...
