THE ICEMAN HAS AT LEAST 19 LIVING RELATIVES. A paper in the journal Science reports on a genetic study which has determined that Otzi, the iceman found along the Italy/Austria border in 1991, has at least 19 relatives living today. This article by Barbara Maranzani at the history website (history.com) describes the study, which took advantage of the fact that Otzi had a rare genetic mutation which has also been found in Otzi’s living relatives. Radiocarbon dating has shown that Otzi lived between 3350 and 3100 B.C. DNA was only taken from Austrian men who lived in the area so it’s possible that there are more living relatives. I find it remarkable that there are so many descendants who live in the same area where their relative lived over 5000 years ago.
Even more remarkably, we are able to know this.