Research The iceman as a burial A. Vanzetti 1 , M. Vidale 2 , M. Gallinaro 1 , D.W. Frayer 3,4 & L. Bondioli 4∗ Since his discovery in 1991 the iceman has been widely seen as meeting a dramatic end – mortally wounded by an arrow shot while attempting to flee through an Alpine pass. A careful study of all the located grave goods, here planned comprehensively for the first time, points strongly towards the scene as one of a ceremonial burial, subsequently dispersed by thawing and gravity. The whole assemblage thus takes on another aspect – not a casual tragedy but a mortuary statement of its day. Keywords: Alpine region, Copper Age, iceman, formation process, burial rite Introduction In September 1991, the iceman, a well-preserved 5000 year-old human corpse, was found on the partially glaciated Tisenjoch pass in the Tyrolean Alps (Figure 1). The common interpretation is that he died with his belongings on the pass of the partially melted Similaun glacier (H¨ opfel et al. 1992; Barfield 1994; Spindler 1994; Spindler et al. 1995, 1996; Bortenschlager & Oeggl 2000; Nerlich et al. 2003; Pernter et al. 2007; Lippert et al. 2007). In this so-called ‘disaster’ theory, the mortally wounded man froze at a high altitude with his tools and personal items, succumbing to an arrow point deeply embedded in his left shoulder while escaping from a tribal clash. Interestingly, such a demanding reconstruction has never been supported by the publication of a detailed spatial analysis of the discovery scene. Here, we present a point pattern analysis based on a detailed map of the items on record and show that a different interpretation is more probable. The original position of 1 Dipartimento SSAAA, Sapienza Universit` a di Roma, 00185 Rome, Italy 2 Dipartimento di Archeologia, Universit` a di Padova, 35100 Padua, Italy 3 Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045-2110, USA 4 Sezione di Antropologia, Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico L. Pigorini, 00144 Rome, Italy ∗ Author for correspondence Received: 22 September 2009; Accepted: 5 January 2010; Revised: 1 February 2010 ANTIQUITY 84 (2010): 681–692 http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/084/ant0840681.htm 681