LONDON: Scientists have found that a copper axe carried by Otzi the Iceman - the 5,300-year-old well-preserved mummy discovered in the Austrian Alps - came from southern Tuscany in Italy.
The discovery provides a new perspective on the long-distance relocation of goods and relationships between the early Copper Age cultures.
The mummified body of Otzi was discovered in September 1991 in the Otztal mountains. He had died 5,300 years ago on what is now the border between Italy and Austria - miles away from Tuscany.
He perished after being shot in the back with an arrow by an unknown assailant, in one of the world's oldest murder mysteries, 'The Telegraph' reported.
The copper axe was recovered 25 years ago alongside other items belonging to the Iceman and revealed fascinating insights into metallurgy during the Copper Age.
It is known that copper was mined in the Alps so it is a mystery why the Iceman's blade should have come from so far away.
Radiocarbon dating of the axe's wooden shaft shows that it dates from the early Copper Age, meaning that it was crafted in the 4th millennium BC.
"The results prove unequivocally that the metal in Otzi's copper blade came from Tuscan deposits," said South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Italy.
"Our results unambiguously indicate that the source of the metal is the ore-rich area of southern Tuscany, despite ample evidence that Alpine copper ore sources were known and exploited at the time," said researchers from Padua University in Italy.
The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.