Rosa Rubicondior: Refuting Creationism - The Iceman Cometh

A facial reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman.

Image credit: Reconstruction by Kennis © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Foto Ochsenreiter.

Ötzi and his microbiome - Eurac Research

A team led by scientists at Eurac Research, a private research centre based in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy, has reconstructed a remarkably detailed picture of the microbial community associated with Ötzi, the Copper Age man whose naturally mummified body emerged from melting ice high in the Ötztal Alps in 1991. Their findings, like so much relevant scientific evidence, are utterly incompatible with Bible-based creationist mythology.

According to young-Earth creationist dogma, the creator god committed an act of global genocide by drowning almost every terrestrial human and animal beneath a flood deep enough to cover the highest mountains. The precise date varies even among creationist organisations: Answers in Genesis places the Flood in 2348 BCE, while the Institute for Creation Research has calculated a date of about 2472 BCE. Both accept the claim derived from the Masoretic text of Genesis that the Flood occurred just 1,656 years after “Creation Week”, when everything was supposedly made from nothing by magic.

Several centuries before either of those proposed Flood dates, however, a man died at an altitude of about 3,200 metres in the Ötztal Alps. His body, clothing and equipment were preserved in a protected, icy hollow until melting ice exposed them in 1991, more than 5,000 years later. That man, now known as Ötzi or the Iceman, is still providing scientists with information about the life, health and microbial companions of a Copper Age European.

The Eurac-led team combined microbial cultivation with DNA sequencing and metagenomic analysis to distinguish between different components of the microbial community associated with the mummy. These included remnants of Ötzi’s original intestinal microbiome, microorganisms that colonised his body after death in the glacial environment, and modern contaminants introduced during more than three decades of museum conservation.

Characteristic patterns of ancient DNA damage authenticated several bacterial species as remnants of Ötzi’s original gut flora. The researchers also isolated viable, cold-adapted yeasts from his skin, internal meltwater and stomach contents. These yeasts probably originated in the glacial environment and may either have survived in a dormant state or be descendants of organisms that colonised the body after death. Some appear capable of remaining active even under the mummy’s present storage conditions of −6°C. The team’s findings were published open access in the journal Microbiome.

A year-long global catastrophe powerful enough to submerge mountain ranges and, according to creationists themselves, tear apart and remodel the Earth’s surface would not have passed harmlessly over this fragile assemblage. It would have melted the glaciers and immersed, displaced, abraded or destroyed the body and scattered its clothing and equipment, while obliterating the cold, stable conditions responsible for its preservation. Yet Ötzi, his possessions, his stomach contents and even the damaged DNA of his intestinal microbes survived together, with no evidence of an intervening planet-wide hydraulic catastrophe.

Ötzi^ Origins, Death and Discovery. A South Tyrolean man
Analysis of strontium, lead, oxygen and carbon isotopes in Ötzi’s teeth and bones indicates that he spent his life on the southern side of the main Alpine watershed. His childhood home can be narrowed down to several valleys within about 60 kilometres south or south-east of the place where he died. The closest isotopic match is the area around modern Feldthurns/Velturno, in the lower Eisack Valley, although parts of the Puster, Vinschgau and Ulten valleys remain possible alternatives.

Because tooth enamel forms during childhood and does not subsequently remodel, it preserves a chemical record of the food and water consumed during a person’s early years. Bone is continually renewed and therefore reflects later life. Differences between Ötzi’s tooth enamel and bones indicate that he moved between Alpine valleys as an adult, but there is no evidence that he came from outside South Tyrol. The isotope study was published in Science.

Genetically, about 90 per cent of Ötzi’s ancestry was related to the early farmers who had spread into Europe from Anatolia several thousand years before he was born; the remainder was principally European hunter-gatherer ancestry. This does not mean that Ötzi himself came from Anatolia. Comparison with other prehistoric Alpine genomes shows that similarly high levels of early-farmer ancestry were common among people inhabiting the region.

His final journey
Pollen and moss fragments preserved in Ötzi’s digestive tract suggest that, during the last day or two of his life, he travelled rapidly between high-altitude coniferous forest, a much lower and warmer valley, and the Tisenjoch pass. Some of the mosses point towards an approach through the Schnalstal/Val Senales Valley from the south.

Why he made this arduous journey remains unknown. He may have been hunting, trading, moving livestock, crossing the pass or fleeing enemies, but none of these suggestions has been established. A deep, recently inflicted cut on his right hand indicates that he had been involved in a violent confrontation shortly before his death. At Tisenjoch he was shot from behind: a flint arrowhead entered his left shoulder and severed an important artery. He also suffered a serious head injury, caused either by a blow or by striking his head as he fell. Pollen evidence indicates that he died in early summer.

How was he preserved?
The original reconstruction proposed that Ötzi fell into a snow-free hollow, was quickly buried beneath snow and remained permanently sealed beneath a moving glacier until 1991. A more recent reassessment of the site suggests a less extraordinary but more complicated history.

Ötzi lay in a shallow rocky gully at an altitude of about 3,210 metres. The ice covering this relatively flat site was probably a thin, largely stationary field of snow and ice frozen to the bedrock, rather than the base of a glacier sliding downhill. The gully protected the body from the destructive pressure and grinding action of moving ice.

Radiocarbon dating shows that material entered the gully both before and after Ötzi’s death. This means that his body was probably exposed briefly during exceptionally warm summers and then covered again by snow and ice. Cold temperatures, short periods of exposure and repeated refreezing slowed decomposition sufficiently to preserve his body, clothing and equipment. More persistent ice finally covered the site as the climate cooled, approximately 1,500 years after his death.

Discovery
On 19 September 1991, German hikers Erika and Helmut Simon noticed a human upper body protruding from melting ice and water in a small gully near Tisenjoch. Because several modern mountaineers had recently emerged from retreating Alpine glaciers, the body was initially assumed to be another comparatively recent casualty.

Bad weather delayed recovery until 23 September. As nobody yet realised that the body was archaeological, it was freed using ice picks and other tools, causing some damage to both the mummy and its possessions. Archaeologist Konrad Spindler examined the copper axe the following day and immediately recognised that the find was thousands of years old.

The site lay very close to the Austrian–Italian frontier. A formal survey found it to be just 92.56 metres inside Italy. Ötzi has been housed in a specially controlled cold chamber at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano since 1998.

The team’s paper in Microbiome was accompanied by a news item from Eurac Research:

Ötzi and his microbiome
A 5,300-year-old relationship
Researchers at Eurac Research have obtained a detailed picture of the microbial community associated with Ötzi. The study provides insights into a complex microbiome, ranging from the gut flora of a Copper Age human to cold-loving yeasts that may have accompanied the mummy for millennia and remain part of an active ecosystem to this day.
It was a very extensive investigation whereby researchers drew on a wide variety of samples and methods. They analyzed ice from the surface of as well as meltwater from inside the mummy and took numerous swabs. Data from previous studies on Ötzi’s internal tissue samples and stomach contents were also available. A soil sample from the discovery site, taken and frozen during Ötzi’s recovery in 1991, was also analyzed to trace environmental influences. This enabled the research team to distinguish which microorganisms were already present in the body during the Ice Man’s lifetime and which colonized it only after his death – both during his time spent in the glacier and over the three decades he has been in (artificial) preservation/ on display.

Researchers also identified genetic material from the original gut microbiome in the Ice Man’s intestinal tract and stomach contents. This microbiome, first described in a 2019 study conducted with Eurac Research, closely resembles the few known examples of gut flora from early human populations – such bacteria are rarely found in the intestines of modern humans living in industrialized societies. Ötzi therefore offers a rare glimpse into humanity’s microbial past.

A surprising discovery is the presence of cold-adapted yeast species, which are believed to have originated in the glacial environment and have survived to this day. The newly discovered yeasts were isolated from skin samples, meltwater from inside the mummy, and samples of stomach contents. These are highly specialized species adapted to cold conditions. Genetic analyses revealed a relationship with strains from extremely cold regions such as Antarctica. This suggests that the yeasts originate from the glacial environment and may have been associated with the mummy for thousands of years. The researchers found both heavily degraded (ancient) and well-preserved (modern) DNA. This indicates that these microorganisms are not merely relics of the past but continue to exist under today’s preservation conditions at minus six degrees Celsius and with high humidity—possibly in a dormant state.

We see continuity here. These yeasts have accompanied Ötzi on his long journey through the millennia. [This shows that the mummy is] not a static relic, but a dynamic biological system.

Frank Maixner, co-senior author.
Eurac Research – Institute for Mummy Studies
Bolzano, Italy.

The study also shows that earlier conservation measures may have unintentionally favored certain microorganisms: three of the four yeasts possess the genetic capacity to break down phenol—an active ingredient used after Ötzi’s recovery to rid the mummy’s surface of fungal growth which the yeasts may have been able to use as a food source.

A mummy’s microbiome is unique because we are dealing with microbes that are over 5,000 years old and, at the same time, with modern microbes that have been introduced since the discovery.

Mohamed S. Sarhan, lead author.
Eurac Research – Institute for Mummy Studies
Bolzano, Italy.

The mummy’s conservation conditions are very stable today, close microbiological monitoring ensures that the mummy suffers no damage. But further research and full conservation efforts are certainly needed to preserve it for many more generations.

Elisabeth Vallazza, not an author of the paper.
Director of the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.

The conditions under which glacial mummies are preserved are not yet fully understood. This study expands our knowledge in this area.

Marco Samadelli, co-author
Eurac Research – Institute for Mummy Studies
Bolzano, Italy.

In addition to the significance for the preservation of the mummy, the findings also open up new avenues for research: cold-loving microorganisms could, for example, be used in energy-efficient industrial processes, such as low-temperature fermentation.

Microbiologist Mohamed Sarhan is examining colonies of yeast taken from a sample of Ötzi’s stomach.

The handling of the yeast is carried out under sterile laboratory conditions.

Mohamed Sarhan examining the yeast cells under a microscope.

Credits: Eurac Research | Andrea De Giovanni

Publication:
Sarhan, M.S., Samadelli, M., Zink, A. et al.
The Iceman’s microbiome: unveiling millennia of microbial diversity and continuity. Microbiome 14, 135 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02417-6

Abstract

Background
The Iceman mummy, a 5300-year-old natural alpine glacier mummy, provides a unique opportunity to study ancient microbial ecosystems. However, disentangling the mummy’s endogenous microbiome from modern environmental contaminants introduced during three decades of conservation remains a significant challenge.

Results
By integrating culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches, including amplicon sequencing, shotgun metagenomics and de novo metagenomic assembly, as well as isolate-level genomics, we performed a comprehensive characterization of the Iceman’s microbial landscape. We identified three distinct microbial drivers: endogenous post-mortem succession, ancient glacier-derived relicts, and modern anthropogenic introduction. Metagenomic analysis of internal tissues revealed anaerobic bacteria, including ancient gut taxa, including such as Romboutsia hominis, Clostridium moniliforme, Eubacterium sp., Ruminococcus bromii, Kineothrix sp., Treponema succinifaciens, Enterousia sp., and Huintestinicola butyrica. These taxa, characterized by ancient DNA (aDNA) damage profiles (C to T deamination frequency), show high similarity to ancestral, non-Westernized human gut communities, providing a rare baseline for Copper Age intestinal ecosystems. Conversely, we identified a shift in the external mycobiome, marked by the recent proliferation of psychrophilic yeasts, including Glaciozyma watsonii, Mrakia robertii, Phenoliferia glacialis, and Goffeauzyma sp. While internal bacterial communities remained stable, these external yeast populations showed increased relative abundance and reduced DNA damage signatures between 2010 and 2019, indicating active, modern colonization. Furthermore, strain-level analysis of Pseudomonas sp. 5C2 confirmed that specific environmental strains have successfully colonized the mummy, persisting across multiple tissue sites with minimal genetic divergence.

Conclusions
Our study demonstrates that the Iceman is not a static relic but a dynamic biological interface. The coexistence of ancient, endogenous gut microbes and modern, psychrophilic colonizers highlights the potential for ongoing microbial activity even at sub-zero temperatures. These findings underscore that maintaining strict environmental parameters is essential to prevent these specialized microbial communities from transitioning from latent persistence to active microorganisms.

Sarhan, M.S., Samadelli, M., Zink, A. et al.
The Iceman’s microbiome: unveiling millennia of microbial diversity and continuity. Microbiome 14, 135 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02417-6

Copyright: © 2026 The authors.
Published by Springer Nature Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

What is especially revealing about this research is not merely that traces of Ötzi’s original intestinal microbiome have survived for more than five millennia. By examining their location, genetic composition and characteristic patterns of ancient DNA damage, the researchers could distinguish those ancient bacteria from organisms that colonised the body after death and from contaminants introduced during modern conservation. It is a biological history written in successive microbial layers.

That history extends uninterrupted across the period in which young-Earth creationists insist that a global Flood submerged every mountain and violently remodelled the surface of the planet. Ötzi had already been dead for several centuries by then. Yet his fragile body, clothing, equipment, stomach contents and endogenous microbial DNA remained together in their high-altitude setting. A year-long hydraulic catastrophe capable of producing the geological destruction claimed by creationists would have scattered, abraded, contaminated or destroyed that entire assemblage.

Nor is this conclusion dependent upon a single dating method or one convenient assumption. Radiocarbon dating establishes Ötzi’s age; isotope analysis identifies the region in which he lived; pollen and mosses reconstruct his final movements; forensic evidence reveals how he died; genetics traces his ancestry; glaciology explains his preservation; and microbial genomics now distinguishes organisms from his lifetime from those that arrived thousands of years later. Creationists must dismiss all these mutually supporting lines of evidence simply because together they contradict a story written by people who knew nothing of any of them.

Science, meanwhile, continues to refine its account. The original idea that Ötzi remained permanently sealed beneath a moving glacier has been replaced by a more evidence-based model involving a protected gully, stationary ice and periods of exposure and refreezing. Similarly, the microbiome study carefully separates authentic ancient signals from modern contamination. Conclusions change when the evidence demands it because accuracy, not conformity to an ancient narrative, is the objective.

Ötzi did not miraculously survive the biblical Flood. His body survived because no such global catastrophe interrupted the ordinary climatic and geological history of the Alps. From his wounds and possessions to the damaged DNA of his intestinal bacteria, this 5,300-year-old murder victim remains a silent but remarkably eloquent witness against the historical authenticity of the Bible’s Flood myth.

Advertisement

Amazon