A research team used advanced sequencing technology to analyze Ötzi’s genome to obtain a more accurate picture of the Iceman’s appearance and genetic origins.

Dark skin, bald head, Anatolian ancestry: The latest findings from the Iceman’s genome

Malaria was common in Renaissance Italy. The disease was known as “Febbre terzana” at the time as an onset of the fever occurred in intervals of two to three days.  A research team led by Eurac Research has now microscopically detected the parasite *Plasmodium falciparum*, the causative agent of the dangerous malaria tropica in soft tissue from embalming vessels found at the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence.

The pathogen of the deadliest form of the disease has been identified in mummified soft tissue belonging to members of the Florentine dynasty.

 Malaria in the Medici era

Produrre birra è un mestiere, un’arte e una scienza. E un ramo della sua produzione può anche cambiare positivamente l’Alto Adige. Ne è convinto Christian Hoffmann, esperto di sviluppo regionale, che durante un workshop al Bolzano Beer Craft Festival, discuterà con esperti e politici di come rendere più regionale la filiera dal campo alla spina. Il microbiologo Frank Maixner racconterà cosa ha scoperto sul consumo di birra dei minatori di Hallstatt nell’età del ferro e, insieme a un “cacciatore di lieviti”, spiegherà le varietà del più antico animale domestico dell’umanità.

Al Beer Craft Festival un esperto di sviluppo regionale e due microbiologi spiegheranno la ricerca dietro questa bevanda

Di birra vecchia e nuova


The well-preserved female mummy was found in 1975 during construction work in Basel's Barfüsserkirche. Since 2018, thanks to interdisciplinary cooperation under the direction of the Natural History Museum Basel, it is known that the woman Anna Catharina Bischoff, was a pastor's widow who died in 1787. At first it was suspected that she had suffered from syphilis, but now a research team has discovered an unknown pathogen in tissue samples. 

A research team can clarify which disease “the lady from the Barfüsserkirche” suffered from.

Mystery of the Basel mummy solved

A team of researchers led by Eurac Research and the Natural History Museum Vienna gains unique insights into the history of cheese production and complex dietary habits of prehistoric Europeans by studying human paleofeces from the Hallstatt salt mine.

Human paleofeces give unique insights 

Beer and blue cheese already on the menu 2,700 years ago

A study on 20 ancient human skeletal remains from Trentino-South Tyrol, Italy reveals new insights into the diversity of human oral microbiome. 


Newly published study on ancient skeletal remains reveals previously unknown species of microorganisms. 

Methanobreviwhat? 

30 years after his discovery, many secrets about the Iceman have been solved, but thanks to new medical and molecular biological technologies, Ötzi and other mummified remains may soon help us better understand pathogens and their evolution. 

Ötzi & Co.

Fresh or dried game meat from ibex and red deer, einkorn wheat and traces of toxic bracken: these were the ingredients of the Iceman’s last meal. In an international study, led by researchers at the Eurac Research centre based in Bozen-Bolzano, scientists have examined the stomach contents of the glacier mummy for DNA, proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. Thanks to their findings, they were able for the first time to reconstruct what constituted a meal in the Copper Age. The results of this study were recently published in the renowned scientific journal “Current Biology”.

Mummy researchers from Eurac Research have analysed the stomach contents of the glacier mummy and reveal new insights into nutrition and food preparation from 5,300 years ago.

The Iceman’s last meal contained a remarkably high fat content

Trillions of microorganisms live on and in humans, most of them in the gut. But our lifestyles are causing the diversity of this bacterial population to shrink dramatically - with far-reaching consequences to our health. Scientists around the world are doing research to better understand the microbiome. And the mummy experts from Eurac Research are also providing an important contribution.

The more modern our lifestyles, the fewer species live in our gut

A gut feeling – how intestinal flora is changing with the times

A study that was published today in Cell Host & Microbe explored for the first time the variation and evolution of Prevotella copri, a common human gut microbe. 

Ötzi proves it

Lifestyle is a threat to gut bacteria

Bioarcheological studies of mummified pre-Columbian remains from Bolivia. Understanding and preserving an important cultural heritage in the National Museum of Archaeology – MUNARQ in La Paz

Life and death in ancient Egypt – Computed tomographic and paleogenetic examinations for the reconstruction of living conditions, diseases and the ancestry of Egyptian mummies

"Celts" up & down the Alps: Origin and Mobility patterns on both sides of the Alps
during the Late Iron Age (4th -1st century BC)

Genomic diversity of prehistoric individuals from the Iceman’s territory in the Eastern Italian Alps

Iceman Conservation Project 2.0 Study on the state of conservation and feasibility

Illuminating the evolutionary history of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC)

Development and centralization of the laboratory infrastructures of the Institute for Mummy Studies at the technology NOI TechPark

Inferring ancient human kinship structure and microbial evolution using paleogenetics

An interdisciplinary approach to study the history of Early Medieval populations in Trentino-Alto Adige

ME Torino Mummy Study and Conservation Project

The Application of next generation sequencing to Archaeology

Molecular analysis of the microbiome and of infectious diseases in ancient human remains - from capture-sequencing to metagenomics diagnostics.

Microscopic and Molecular de novo Analysis of the Iceman's Stomach Content

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Frank Maixner

Projects

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MUMBO

Project

PopGenCT Ancient Egypt

Project

CeltUDAlps

Project

PrehistoricAlps

Project

Iceman Conservation Project 2.0

Project

EvolTB

Project

MummyLabs

Project

HuMAN-PaGe

Project

BioArchEM

Project

ME Torino Mummy Project

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NGS ARCHAEOLOGY

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ANCIENT PATHOGENS

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ICEMAN STOMACH

MAGAZINE Science Stories that Inspire

Dark skin, bald head, Anatolian ancestry: The latest findings from the Iceman’s genome

Di birra vecchia e nuova

Beer and blue cheese already on the menu 2,700 years ago

Malaria in the Medici era

Mystery of the Basel mummy solved

Methanobreviwhat?

Frank Maixner

Projects

Project

MUMBO

Project

PopGenCT Ancient Egypt

Project

CeltUDAlps

Project

PrehistoricAlps

Project

Iceman Conservation Project 2.0

Project

EvolTB

Project

MummyLabs

Project

HuMAN-PaGe

Project

BioArchEM

Project

ME Torino Mummy Project

Project

NGS ARCHAEOLOGY

Project

ANCIENT PATHOGENS

Project

ICEMAN STOMACH

MAGAZINE Science Stories that Inspire

Dark skin, bald head, Anatolian ancestry: The latest findings from the Iceman’s genomeself.__wrap_b(":R17l9dabjlm:",1)

Di birra vecchia e nuovaself.__wrap_b(":R17ladabjlm:",1)

Beer and blue cheese already on the menu 2,700 years agoself.__wrap_b(":R17lbdabjlm:",1)

Malaria in the Medici eraself.__wrap_b(":R17l9labjlm:",1)

Mystery of the Basel mummy solvedself.__wrap_b(":R17lalabjlm:",1)

Methanobreviwhat?self.__wrap_b(":R17lblabjlm:",1)

Dark skin, bald head, Anatolian ancestry: The latest findings from the Iceman’s genome

Di birra vecchia e nuova

Beer and blue cheese already on the menu 2,700 years ago

Malaria in the Medici era

Mystery of the Basel mummy solved

Methanobreviwhat?