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Ötzi quiz: What do you know about the Iceman mummy who was murdered 5,300 years ago in the Alps?

Kristina Killgrove

19 September 2025

Think you know a lot about Ötzi the Iceman? Don’t get left in the cold — take our quiz!

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The mummified body of a man who died over 5,000 years ago was discovered in 1991 in the Alps.
(Image credit: Leopold Nekula / Getty Images)

On Sept. 19, 1991, hikers were crossing a pass over the Ötztal valley in the Alps when they stumbled upon a human body that was partly exposed in the ice. The hikers alerted the authorities, who spent several days extracting the mummified corpse from the melting ice. When archaeologists finally got a look at it, they realized the mummy was not a missing 20th-century hiker but rather millennia-old human remains. The body of the middle-aged man who died around 3300 B.C. would become known as Ötzi or the Iceman who revealed what everyday life was like during the Copper Age.

Think you know a lot about Ötzi’s Copper Age life and manner of death? Start the quiz below to find out if your knowledge of this famous mummy is solid or on thin ice.
Remember to log in to put your name on the leaderboard; hints are available if you click the yellow button!

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Kristina Killgrove

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Staff writer

Kristina Killgrove is a staff writer at Live Science with a focus on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in venues such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Kristina holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and an M.A. in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina, as well as a B.A. in Latin from the University of Virginia, and she was formerly a university professor and researcher. She has received awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science writing.

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Ötzi the Iceman and his neighbors had totally different ancestries, ancient DNA study finds

50 amazing facial reconstructions, from Stone Age shamans to King Tut

2,300-year-old arm tats on mummified woman reveal new insights about tattooing technique in ancient Siberia

An exotic quartz arrow may have killed a man 12,000 years ago in Vietnam

World’s oldest mummies were smoke-dried 10,000 years ago in China and Southeast Asia, researchers find

Mesopotamia quiz: Test your knowledge about the ancient civilizations of the Fertile Crescent

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