Fatal wound (Image: Copper Age/Getty Images)

INTACT 5300-year-old red blood cells have been extracted from Ötzi, the “iceman” found in the European Alps in 1991. The cells are at least 2000 years older than those from Egyptian mummies, the previous record-holders.

Albert Zink of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy, says they look just like modern blood cells. “There was no difference, although they were a little more brittle than living cells.”

Previous attempts to extract red blood cells from Ötzi’s arteries had failed. This time, Zink struck lucky after sampling two of the iceman’s wounds (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2012.0174).

Traces of the blood-clotting protein fibrin came from the wound on his back, caused by the arrow that killed him. The fibrin is evidence that the wound was fresh when the iceman died.