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American Morning

Iceman Iced?

Aired August 13, 2003 - 07:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some Australian researchers are working toward explaining the death of a man found in the Alps. He lived thousands of years ago and may have met an unsavory end.
Michael Koons (ph) of Australia's Channel 7 has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The discovery may only be 12 years ago, but the iceman dubbed Oetzi (ph) died in the Italian Alps 5,300 years ago. Exactly what happened to the hunter-gatherer is still unknown, but scientists at the University of Queensland are painfully close to revealing the secret using samples of the iceman's jacket, axe, knife and arrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were able to take some blood off of these tools and then screen them for human DNA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Through using modern forensic techniques on ancient DNA, they've gleaned an astonishing amount of information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have three or four individual's DNA, and we don't know which, if any, of those are Oetzi's (ph) DNA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're now hoping to take the next step with a scraping of tissue from the well-preserved body.

(on camera): The researchers say outlandish theories, like Oetzi (ph) was killed by his fellow villagers for ravaging the town's young women, could finally be disproved with the iceman's DNA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most probable theories is he was simply a hunter-gatherer, perhaps suffering from hypothermia and just rested on the mountain and died as he was resting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): They say it will take just a few days with the DNA to build a more certain picture, but for that, the Italian Museum, where Oetzi (ph) is kept, needs to give approval.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is always a bureaucratic process to go through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that could take years.

Michael Koons (ph), 7 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired August 13, 2003 - 07:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some Australian researchers are working toward explaining the death of a man found in the Alps. He lived thousands of years ago and may have met an unsavory end.
Michael Koons (ph) of Australia's Channel 7 has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The discovery may only be 12 years ago, but the iceman dubbed Oetzi (ph) died in the Italian Alps 5,300 years ago. Exactly what happened to the hunter-gatherer is still unknown, but scientists at the University of Queensland are painfully close to revealing the secret using samples of the iceman's jacket, axe, knife and arrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were able to take some blood off of these tools and then screen them for human DNA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Through using modern forensic techniques on ancient DNA, they've gleaned an astonishing amount of information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have three or four individual's DNA, and we don't know which, if any, of those are Oetzi's (ph) DNA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're now hoping to take the next step with a scraping of tissue from the well-preserved body.

(on camera): The researchers say outlandish theories, like Oetzi (ph) was killed by his fellow villagers for ravaging the town's young women, could finally be disproved with the iceman's DNA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most probable theories is he was simply a hunter-gatherer, perhaps suffering from hypothermia and just rested on the mountain and died as he was resting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): They say it will take just a few days with the DNA to build a more certain picture, but for that, the Italian Museum, where Oetzi (ph) is kept, needs to give approval.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is always a bureaucratic process to go through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that could take years.

Michael Koons (ph), 7 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.