Segmentation in animals

Consequently, the mummy is now housed in a special museum in South Tyrol's capital Bolzano. Err, is there any genetic evidence to back this up? Well, you know that there is no such thing as Italian genes, don't you? Ötzi's complete mitochondrial genome, which is published in this issue of Current Biology, indicates that he belongs to the so-called haplogroup K that is common in Western Europe, in particular around the Alps. However, within this subtype, his mitochondrial genome contains two mutations that make it unique when compared to Europeans living today. So, when exactly did he live? Ötzi is estimated to have lived to his mid-forties, around 5,300 years ago, which makes him the oldest natural mummy in Europe and only a little younger than some of the oldest embalmed mummies. The period he lived in at the transition between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age is sometimes called the Copper Age and refers to the occasional use of copper tools alongside stone tools. A man of his day, Ötzi was found to have carried with him arrowheads and a knife made of flintstone as well as a copper axe, the latter of which is taken as a sign of a higher social status. Interestingly, the stone and the metal come from the south and the north of the Alps, respectively, indicating long distance trade of goods at that time. What about his 'second life'? Ötzi, the mummy, was discovered by two German hikers in 1991 and it soon was realised that it was not, as initially presumed, yet another dead mountaineer the melting glacier had spit out, but instead an archaeological sensation that has allowed an unprecedented look into everyday life five millennia ago. But more than that, Ötzi soon became an item of popular culture — perhaps because of the great deal of quite plastic detail that could be inferred about his private life from the find, but certainly, because of the mystery of his death. Tell me more! Well, initially it was thought that he was a hunter or a shepherd that was caught by bad weather. He may have been frail, as he was infested by worms and his fingernails revealed repeated bouts of disease. Later, his hair was found to contain toxic levels of arsenic he might have absorbed during copper smelting. But then, the real murder mystery unfolded... Oh, come on! About …