Word: eggs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...archaeologists, the Iceman's fur quiver is an even rarer prize. "It is the only quiver from the Neolithic period found in the whole world," Egg marvels. Its cargo of feathered arrows marks another first. Carved from viburnum and dogwood branches, a dozen of them were unfinished. But two were primed for shooting -- with flint points and feathers. The feathers had been affixed with a resin-like glue at an angle that would cause spin in flight and help maintain a true course. "It is significant that ballistic principles were known and applied," says Notdurfter. The quiver also held...
...which had not yet been notched for a bowstring, is made of yew, which Egg explains is "the best wood in Central Europe for bowmaking and the wood the famous English longbows -- like Robin Hood's -- were made of." Yew is relatively rare in the Alps, but the Iceman had searched out "the best material...
...tiny flint dagger with a wooden handle; a net of grass, which possibly served as a carrying bag; and a pencil- size stone-and-linden tool that was probably used to sharpen arrowheads and blades. Two birchbark canisters may have been used to carry the embers from a fire, Egg speculates. The Iceman apparently toted much of his gear in a primitive rucksack with a U-shaped wooden frame...
Prepared as he was for an Alpine outing, how did the Iceman perish? And what was he doing so high in the mountains? To Egg, the evidence suggests that the Iceman could have been a shepherd, part of a group tending sheep or cattle. Ekkehard Dreiseitel, a University of Innsbruck climatologist, agrees. "We know the weather 5,000 years ago was somewhat warmer. The pasturage in the high Alps ((above the tree line)) would have been tempting in the summer, since it requires no clearing of the forest." Because the ax resembles those found in Stone Age settlements near Brescia...
...some point, Egg says, the Iceman could have left his group to search for yew to replace a broken bow or to hunt for food. His route may have taken him over the Alpine crest and down to the tree line on the other side. There he cut himself a new bow, fetched more arrow wood, and prepared to rejoin his friends...