Yesterday, the better half and I went down to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. There were some new exibits at the museum of natural history we wanted to see, and one in particular I wanted to see. The iceman's tools. This is the 5,000 year old guy that was frozen in the glacier in Austria.
They have a nice little exibit about him in the exibit hall dedicated to the rise of western civilization in Europe in the noelithic thru the copper age.
I was impressed with a couple of things. One was how small and almost insignificant looking his tools were. His flint knife was only about 1 1/2 to 1/3/4 inches in length. The first little bit was broke off, they think in the last fight he had just before he fled into the mountains, but from the profile of the blade, it looks like maybe 1/4 of and inch is missing. It was bound into a ash handle with what looked like sinew, and the whole thing was overall smaller than a sak when open.
He had a little bone awl for I guess field repairs of hide clothing. It was also very small, maybe 2 inches in length. There was a hunk of dried tree fungus that was tinder, and there was a small flint scraper. The maniken they had standing there dressed in the clothing, was well done. Fur leggings, fur coat, and fur hat, leather ankle high shoes stuffed with dry grass. All in all, it looked like he was well dressed for harsh weather. He had been in the prosess of making a new bow and arrows.
But best of all was the ax. He was carrying a copper ax about the size if a 14 inch Fiskars hatchet, but with a much narrower smaller head. This was bound into a long wood handle with sinew.
Copper ax and small flint knife. They must have served him well, because he was in his early 40's, which was old by his era's standards. All his gear was small and light, not unlike a modern backpackers tools. Standing there looking at his stuff, it made me think about our stuff.
The fact that he died, was due to the arrow just under his shoulder blade, and he'd been shot in the back not long before he died. He'd been in a really good fight just before he fled inot the mountains, he had a cut across his right index finger and knuckel, another deep cut across the palm of the hand, both cuts leaving marks in the bone from the serrated edge of a flint knife. That he got away from his attackers was verrified by the fact that he was found 5,000 years later with his copper ax, that would have been a treasure to someone back then. Medical experts say he probably bled to death from the arrow wound in his back that was close to he heart.
So in the end, we have a guy who was from the north side of the alps, (southern Germany or Austria)that was on the south side of the alps, (Northern italy) traveling what was long distances in those days, well beyond his own turf, with a hatchet, small knife, and a bow. A little waist pouch held a few items like a tinder and fire kit, mushroom for medicinal use(?) awl, a flint tool or two.
Looking at the stuff we carry these days, I feel like a piker.
But he must have been one heck of a tough survivor; he has a heck of a knife fight getting cut and breaking the tip off his own knife, gets shot in the back with a fatal shot, and still outruns his attackers to escape in the mountains, only dying later from delayed effect of an arrow in the back.
Guess they made em tougher in those days.
They have a nice little exibit about him in the exibit hall dedicated to the rise of western civilization in Europe in the noelithic thru the copper age.
I was impressed with a couple of things. One was how small and almost insignificant looking his tools were. His flint knife was only about 1 1/2 to 1/3/4 inches in length. The first little bit was broke off, they think in the last fight he had just before he fled into the mountains, but from the profile of the blade, it looks like maybe 1/4 of and inch is missing. It was bound into a ash handle with what looked like sinew, and the whole thing was overall smaller than a sak when open.
He had a little bone awl for I guess field repairs of hide clothing. It was also very small, maybe 2 inches in length. There was a hunk of dried tree fungus that was tinder, and there was a small flint scraper. The maniken they had standing there dressed in the clothing, was well done. Fur leggings, fur coat, and fur hat, leather ankle high shoes stuffed with dry grass. All in all, it looked like he was well dressed for harsh weather. He had been in the prosess of making a new bow and arrows.
But best of all was the ax. He was carrying a copper ax about the size if a 14 inch Fiskars hatchet, but with a much narrower smaller head. This was bound into a long wood handle with sinew.
Copper ax and small flint knife. They must have served him well, because he was in his early 40's, which was old by his era's standards. All his gear was small and light, not unlike a modern backpackers tools. Standing there looking at his stuff, it made me think about our stuff.
The fact that he died, was due to the arrow just under his shoulder blade, and he'd been shot in the back not long before he died. He'd been in a really good fight just before he fled inot the mountains, he had a cut across his right index finger and knuckel, another deep cut across the palm of the hand, both cuts leaving marks in the bone from the serrated edge of a flint knife. That he got away from his attackers was verrified by the fact that he was found 5,000 years later with his copper ax, that would have been a treasure to someone back then. Medical experts say he probably bled to death from the arrow wound in his back that was close to he heart.
So in the end, we have a guy who was from the north side of the alps, (southern Germany or Austria)that was on the south side of the alps, (Northern italy) traveling what was long distances in those days, well beyond his own turf, with a hatchet, small knife, and a bow. A little waist pouch held a few items like a tinder and fire kit, mushroom for medicinal use(?) awl, a flint tool or two.
Looking at the stuff we carry these days, I feel like a piker.
But he must have been one heck of a tough survivor; he has a heck of a knife fight getting cut and breaking the tip off his own knife, gets shot in the back with a fatal shot, and still outruns his attackers to escape in the mountains, only dying later from delayed effect of an arrow in the back.
Guess they made em tougher in those days.
