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Arts & Culture

NOVA: Iceman Murder Mystery

Scientist taking a sample from Otzi in the cold chamber. He’s been dead for more than 5,000 years and probed by scientists for the last 20. Yet today, Otzi the Iceman, the famous mummified corpse pulled from a glacier in the Italian Alps nearly two decades ago, continues to keep many secrets.
Courtesy of Marco Samadelli/South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/EURAC
Scientist taking a sample from Otzi in the cold chamber. He’s been dead for more than 5,000 years and probed by scientists for the last 20. Yet today, Otzi the Iceman, the famous mummified corpse pulled from a glacier in the Italian Alps nearly two decades ago, continues to keep many secrets.

Airs Wednesday, March 14, 2018 at 9:30 p.m. on KPBS TV

He’s been dead for more than 5,000 years — and been poked, prodded and probed by scientists for the last 20.

Yet today, Otzi the Iceman, the famous mummified corpse pulled from a glacier in the Italian Alps nearly two decades ago, continues to keep many secrets.

Now, through an autopsy like none other, scientists will attempt to unravel more mysteries from this ancient mummy, revealing not only the details of Otzi’s death, but an entire way of life.

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Frontal shot of Otzi's face.
Courtesy of Marco Samadelli/South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/EURAC
Frontal shot of Otzi's face.

How did people live during Otzi’s time, the Copper Age? What did they eat? What diseases did they cope with?

The answers abound miraculously in this one man’s mummified remains.

Watch NOVA "Iceman Murder Mystery," to defrost the ultimate time capsule, the 5,000-year-old man.

10 Ways to Make a Mummy

How do corpses become mummies? In this interactive feature, see how natural forces and artificial techniques preserve bodies through the ages.

This program originally aired in 2011.

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CREDITS:

A NOVA production for WGBH Boston. Senior Executive Producer for NOVA is Paula S. Apsell.