Re:World's oldest snowshoe found on a glacier in Italy's Dol...
by flukus on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @12:57AM
(#12485722)
>Of course the chance that the artifact is directly related to Oetzi is quite slim indeed, since geographical proximity doesn't particularly indicate chronological proximity.
How about the geographic proximity combined with the remoteness of the location? Is it one of those places that very few people have ever set foot on?
Re:World's oldest snowshoe found on a glacier in Italy's Dol...
by curtis on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @01:15AM
(#12485777)
The article says the snowshoes were discovered on Gurgler Eisjoch glacier. There's no entry in Wikipedia (en.wikipedia, anyway) for the glacier, but there is a mention of a "Gurgler Eisjoch" mountain pass (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tztal_Alps#Passes). If both Oetzi and the snowshoes were discovered near a pass, then perhaps it's not so surprising after all. Quite a lot of traffic would be funneled through a narrow geographic area, especially when considered over hundreds or thousands of years.
Re:World's oldest snowshoe found on a glacier in Italy's Dol...
by versteegen on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @02:02AM
(#12485924)
Yes, Oetzi was discovered in a mountain pass, that is why he was found so close to the Austrian-Italian border. Also, analysis of his bones and microscopic quartz crystals in his gut showed that he made the journey between the Italian and Austrian valleys of the region often during his life.
It's not clear exactly how near the snowshoe site was to Oetzi's site, but a little bit of googling suggests it might have been quite close indeed -- maybe within a couple of miles. Of course the chance that the artifact is directly related to Oetzi is quite slim indeed, since geographical proximity doesn't particularly indicate chronological proximity. Still pretty interesting, though.