BOLZANO, ITALY, June 23 (DC Times Online) — A peer-reviewed study has identified four cold-adapted yeast species on Ötzi the Iceman, the 5,300-year-old mummy found in the Alps in 1991, and researchers say the remains can preserve ancient microbes while also picking up modern contamination in museum storage.
The study, published in the journal Microbiome by Eurac Research scientists, found traces of the yeasts in skin samples, meltwater inside the mummy and stomach contents. The team also reconstructed the yeasts’ genetics and grew several microbes in the lab, producing four viable species.
Three of the yeasts were able to use phenol, a compound often used to prevent fungal growth, as a food source, according to the researchers. The authors said the mummy’s remains may function as a dynamic ecosystem under sub-zero vault conditions, where glacier-derived microbes and newer contaminants can coexist.
The study also found degraded and modern DNA fragments, which the researchers said supports the idea that some microbes may have remained active during Ötzi’s long preservation in ice. The paper does not prove uninterrupted survival over the full 5,000 years, and the authors said some microbes may also have been introduced during discovery or preservation.
Ötzi is housed at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, in a cold cell designed to mimic glacial conditions. Museum records say the mummy was naturally preserved in glacier ice and dates to around 3300 BC, making him Europe’s oldest known natural human mummy.
