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The Iceman: Discovery and Imaging¹

¹ From the Division of Diagnostic Imaging, Box 057, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030 (W.A.M.); Department of Radiology II, University of Innsbruck, Austria (D.z.N., W.R.); Department of Radiology, Regional General Hospital, Bolzano, Italy (P.G.); Department of Radiology, Kufstein Hospital, Kufstein, Austria (R.K.); and Institute for Human Biology, University of Vienna, Austria (H.S.). From the 1994 RSNA scientific assembly. Received March 25, 2002; revision requested June 10; revision received July 26; accepted August 1. Address correspondence to W.A.M. (e-mail: wmurphy@di.mdacc.tmc.edu).

The anatomic features of a 5,300-year-old mummy, the iceman, were documented with conventional radiographic, portable computed radiographic, and conventional and spiral computed tomographic images obtained between September 1991 and June 2001. A team of scientists and radiologists from Austria, Italy, and the United States supervised the examinations and interpreted the images. The images demonstrated excellent preservation of the mineralized skeleton with profound dehydration of the soft tissues. The skeleton exhibited several types of trauma, including (a) healed rib fractures, (b) hairline skull fractures and a compression deformity of the thorax, probably acquired while encased in the glacier, and (c) damage acquired during the effort to recover the corpse. Skeletal variants were present, as was evidence of degenerative arthritis, frostbite, vascular calcification, and adaptation to cultural and geographic influences. In terms of anatomy and apparent health-related conditions, the iceman was very similar to modern humans. An arrowhead lodged between the rib cage and the left scapula was the probable cause of the iceman’s death. Study of the images also provided insight regarding postmortem processes that led to the iceman’s mummification.

Supplemental material: radiology.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/2263020338/DC1.

© RSNA, 2003

Index terms: Computed tomography (CT), archaeology • Forensic radiology • Mummies

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