Thursday 16 June
Woke this morning to grey skies and drizzle - not very inspiring. However, the plan for today is to drive to Bolzano and, amongst other things, visit the Museum of Archeology which houses the mortal remains of Otzi the iceman. Otzi was discovered nearly 20 years ago buried in the snow near the top of a mountain in the South Tyrol. After a great deal of investigation, it has been established that Otzi lived more than 5,000 years ago and died as a result of an arrow wound. His body is the only one found so far that has gone through a "wet" mummification process and as a result, his body, clothing and weapons were in an amazing state of preservation. A couple of grains of wheat were discovered in his clothing which makes them the oldest pieces of whole grain ever found. One of the weapons he was carrying was a copper axe which has meant that the Copper Age classification has had to be re-thought as up until then, archeologists thought that copper was not commonly found as early as this. He was wearing a helmet type cap made of wolfskin, a cape of bearskin and leggings constructed of carefully sewn together pieces of goat skin. The pieces were sewn together with animal sinew. The museum has created a model of what they think Otzi may have looked like and also re-created his clothing and weapons.
He may not be very pretty to look at now (at 5,000 years old, who would be!) but it was really interesting to see him and to find out about the results of the scientific investigations into what he wore, what his last meal was (probably cheese or yoghurt) and to try to reconstruct who he was and what he was doing walking on a high mountain pass.
By the time we finished at the museum, the sun was out and it was lovely and warm. We went for a wander around the old part of the city which is mostly a pedestrian precinct which has arcaded shops and little alley ways leading through to side streets, great fun to explore. We had lunch in a tavern which had been in use since the 1700s so that was pretty cool.
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From there, we hopped back in the car and drove to Ortisei which was only about 20 minutes away but was right up in the hills. By the time we got there, it was tipping down rain again. One of the reasons we wanted to go, is that Ortisei is reknowned for its wood carvers and the local church is supposed to be something special. However, as most of the streets seemed to be one way and extremely steep, after a quick drive around we decided to head back down the hills to Bressanone. On our way down the hill, we made a quick stop at a sculptor's studio and while all the carving was beautifully done, it was mainly religious icons. These next couple of images were taken from the car as we drove from Ortisei to Bressanone.
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Woke this morning to grey skies and drizzle - not very inspiring. However, the plan for today is to drive to Bolzano and, amongst other things, visit the Museum of Archeology which houses the mortal remains of Otzi the iceman. Otzi was discovered nearly 20 years ago buried in the snow near the top of a mountain in the South Tyrol. After a great deal of investigation, it has been established that Otzi lived more than 5,000 years ago and died as a result of an arrow wound. His body is the only one found so far that has gone through a "wet" mummification process and as a result, his body, clothing and weapons were in an amazing state of preservation. A couple of grains of wheat were discovered in his clothing which makes them the oldest pieces of whole grain ever found. One of the weapons he was carrying was a copper axe which has meant that the Copper Age classification has had to be re-thought as up until then, archeologists thought that copper was not commonly found as early as this. He was wearing a helmet type cap made of wolfskin, a cape of bearskin and leggings constructed of carefully sewn together pieces of goat skin. The pieces were sewn together with animal sinew. The museum has created a model of what they think Otzi may have looked like and also re-created his clothing and weapons.
He may not be very pretty to look at now (at 5,000 years old, who would be!) but it was really interesting to see him and to find out about the results of the scientific investigations into what he wore, what his last meal was (probably cheese or yoghurt) and to try to reconstruct who he was and what he was doing walking on a high mountain pass.
By the time we finished at the museum, the sun was out and it was lovely and warm. We went for a wander around the old part of the city which is mostly a pedestrian precinct which has arcaded shops and little alley ways leading through to side streets, great fun to explore. We had lunch in a tavern which had been in use since the 1700s so that was pretty cool.
From there, we hopped back in the car and drove to Ortisei which was only about 20 minutes away but was right up in the hills. By the time we got there, it was tipping down rain again. One of the reasons we wanted to go, is that Ortisei is reknowned for its wood carvers and the local church is supposed to be something special. However, as most of the streets seemed to be one way and extremely steep, after a quick drive around we decided to head back down the hills to Bressanone. On our way down the hill, we made a quick stop at a sculptor's studio and while all the carving was beautifully done, it was mainly religious icons. These next couple of images were taken from the car as we drove from Ortisei to Bressanone.
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