When hikers discovered a body in the Alps, they assumed it was recent.

It was Ötzi the Iceman, a man who had been frozen for more than 5,000 years, preserved with what he wore, what he carried, and how he died.

He wasn’t lightly equipped.

He wore a coat made from animal hides, a grass cloak for rain, insulated shoes packed with grass, and a fur cap. He carried a copper axe, a bow and arrows, a flint dagger, tools for repair, and even the means to carry fire using embers and tinder fungus.

His body filled in the rest.

He had eaten meat and grains shortly before death. Pollen showed he had moved quickly uphill. His DNA revealed brown eyes, darker skin, and a background tied to early European farmers. It also showed a predisposition to heart disease, already visible in his arteries.

And he didn’t simply freeze.

An arrowhead was found lodged in his shoulder, likely severing a major artery. He had a deep cut on his hand, suggesting a fight. He climbed, collapsed, and died on the mountain.

The ice did the rest.

For 5,000 years, it kept the details intact, down to his last meal, his tools, and the moment his journey ended.