The Iceman
.._..-.._..-.._..
Latest News About Otze - The Iceman
This is about one called The ICEMAN. It is based on the amazing story of a five thousand year old man whose well preserved remains including clothing and metal as well as stone tools and weapons were uncovered on September 19, 1991 by a couple walking in the high Alps.
As best we know he came to us in a storm. He lay down one evening in the mountains, never to reawaken . Nestled in a hollow he was captured by the snows and ice and ages; just a bit below the grindings of the glaciers , just a bit below the middle ages , below the songs of old king Tut, below Columbus as he stepped up his gangplank onto a hull of fresh cut timber, a step behind all our histories, before all we call ancient, he lay down deep in the mountains and took his sleep.
This is his attraction to me. So far into our past and yet so near to us. His eyes frozen open, the tips of his arrows leaving marks on the leather of his quiver. His finely crafted copper ax, his bow, six feet in hight, carved but not yet strung. His treasures of finest flint for trade and his stores of dried mushroom, medicines to guard against the ravages of the high mountains. This ancient European who has so much in common with traditional Native Americans.
In 1990 the storms of the Sahara blew dust across the Mediterranean settling into the mountains of Northern Italy. This was a trigger that led to unusual melting in the high Alps; just a brief window that opened for only six days. On the third day a couple, on a walking treck, stepped upon the uncovered remains of a traveler revealed in the melting snows. It is thought that this was the first time he had touched sunlight since his death 5000 years before. Soon he would have returned to the snowy comfort of his icy tomb as a new storm blew through the region just a few days after.
This is a man; just as you and I in so many ways I suspect. Who watched the sun rise as you and I will tomorrow. Who held his family close, who dreamed of childhood memories, who stepped into the mountains and fell beneath the turning tide of a mountain storm.
This is the man who calls to me from my own racial ancestry. We step into our days, we hold those we love near, we smile , we struggle, we feel the warm sun on our backs, and, even in the tight grip of winter snows, we smile. Not so different I suspect than this man. This is a story about an ancient traveler; just a fallen stranger in the snow.
This text has been adapted from a tribute song originally composed by Ted Duross.