Ötzi's Copper Axe
A reconstruction of the copper-bladed axe carried by the Iceman when he died in the Ötztal Alps around 3300 BC.
The axe is the single most informative object Ötzi carried. Its blade is almost pure copper, hafted in yew with birch tar and leather binding, and it pushed the accepted date of metalworking in the Alps back by centuries. An axe like this was not an everyday tool but a statement of standing, which sharpens the question of why its owner was shot in the back with an arrow and left on a mountain pass. Read the full story in our article on Ötzi the Iceman: Solving a 5,300-Year-Old Murder in the Alps.
CC BY 3.0 — source (Wikimedia Commons). Free to reuse under the stated licence.
