BOLZANO, ITALY, June 23 (DC Times Online) — Researchers at Eurac Research say they found four ancient cold-adapted yeast species on Ötzi the Iceman’s remains, in a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Microbiome.
The team reported traces of the yeasts in skin samples, meltwater inside the mummy and stomach contents from the 5,300-year-old body, which was discovered in the Alps in 1991 and is now kept at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.
According to the study, the samples suggest Ötzi’s preserved remains can function as a “dynamic biological interface,” where ancient glacier-derived microbes and modern contaminants coexist under museum conditions. The researchers also reported degraded and modern DNA fragments, which they said are consistent with the possibility that some microbes survived or were preserved at subzero temperatures, though the findings do not prove that all of the organisms remained active for millennia.
The study said the team grew multiple microbe species in the lab and recovered four viable ones. Three of those were reportedly able to use phenol, a compound used to prevent fungal growth, as a food source.
Ötzi’s body was naturally preserved in glacier ice before it was removed from the Alps. The museum says the mummy has been housed in a specially designed cold cell since 1998.