The Iceman’s mysterious genetic past

A 5,000-year-old mummy displays a genetic signature no longer found in Europe, according to its complete mitochondrial DNA sequence

It’s been 17 years since a prehistoric man’s frozen body was found poking out of a glacier in the Italian Alps, and the mummified corpse continues to warm scientists’ hearts. The Tyrolean Iceman, or Ötzi, now has yielded the oldest complete human mitochondrial DNA sequence generated to date, say molecular biologist Franco Rollo of the University of Camerino, Italy, and his colleagues.