Cargando…

Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey

The Iceman site is unique in the bryology of the Quaternary. Only 21 bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) grow now in the immediate vicinity of the 5,300 year old Iceman discovery site at 3,210m above sea level in the Ötztal Alps, Italy. By contrast 75 or more species including at least ten liverworts...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dickson, James H., Oeggl, Klaus D., Kofler, Werner, Hofbauer, Wolfgang K., Porley, Ronald, Rothero, Gordon P., Schmidl, Alexandra, Heiss, Andreas G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6821077/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31665165
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223752
_version_ 1783464082691588096
author Dickson, James H.
Oeggl, Klaus D.
Kofler, Werner
Hofbauer, Wolfgang K.
Porley, Ronald
Rothero, Gordon P.
Schmidl, Alexandra
Heiss, Andreas G.
author_facet Dickson, James H.
Oeggl, Klaus D.
Kofler, Werner
Hofbauer, Wolfgang K.
Porley, Ronald
Rothero, Gordon P.
Schmidl, Alexandra
Heiss, Andreas G.
author_sort Dickson, James H.
collection PubMed
description The Iceman site is unique in the bryology of the Quaternary. Only 21 bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) grow now in the immediate vicinity of the 5,300 year old Iceman discovery site at 3,210m above sea level in the Ötztal Alps, Italy. By contrast 75 or more species including at least ten liverworts were recovered as subfossils frozen in, on and around the Iceman from before, at and after his time. About two thirds of the species grow in the nival zone (above 3,000m above sea level) now while about one third do not. A large part of this third can be explained by the Iceman having both deliberately and inadvertently carried bryophytes during his last, fatal journey. Multivariate analyses (PCA, RDA) provide a variety of explanations for the arrivals of the bryophytes in the rocky hollow where the mummy was discovered. This is well into the nival zone of perennial snow and ice with a very sparse, non-woody flora and very low vegetation cover. Apart from the crucial anthropochory (extra-local plants), both hydrochory (local species) and zoochory (by wild game such as ibex of both local and extra-local species) have been important. Anemochory of mainly local species was of lesser importance and of extra-local species probably of little or no importance. The mosses Neckera complanata and several other ecologically similar species as well as a species of Sphagnum (bogmoss) strongly support the claim that the Iceman, took northwards up Schnalstal, South Tyrol, as the route of the last journey. A different species of bogmoss, taken from his colon is another indication the Iceman’s presence at low altitude south of Schnalstal during his last hours when he was first high up, low down and finally at over 3,000m.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6821077
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-68210772019-11-08 Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey Dickson, James H. Oeggl, Klaus D. Kofler, Werner Hofbauer, Wolfgang K. Porley, Ronald Rothero, Gordon P. Schmidl, Alexandra Heiss, Andreas G. PLoS One Research Article The Iceman site is unique in the bryology of the Quaternary. Only 21 bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) grow now in the immediate vicinity of the 5,300 year old Iceman discovery site at 3,210m above sea level in the Ötztal Alps, Italy. By contrast 75 or more species including at least ten liverworts were recovered as subfossils frozen in, on and around the Iceman from before, at and after his time. About two thirds of the species grow in the nival zone (above 3,000m above sea level) now while about one third do not. A large part of this third can be explained by the Iceman having both deliberately and inadvertently carried bryophytes during his last, fatal journey. Multivariate analyses (PCA, RDA) provide a variety of explanations for the arrivals of the bryophytes in the rocky hollow where the mummy was discovered. This is well into the nival zone of perennial snow and ice with a very sparse, non-woody flora and very low vegetation cover. Apart from the crucial anthropochory (extra-local plants), both hydrochory (local species) and zoochory (by wild game such as ibex of both local and extra-local species) have been important. Anemochory of mainly local species was of lesser importance and of extra-local species probably of little or no importance. The mosses Neckera complanata and several other ecologically similar species as well as a species of Sphagnum (bogmoss) strongly support the claim that the Iceman, took northwards up Schnalstal, South Tyrol, as the route of the last journey. A different species of bogmoss, taken from his colon is another indication the Iceman’s presence at low altitude south of Schnalstal during his last hours when he was first high up, low down and finally at over 3,000m. Public Library of Science 2019-10-30 /pmc/articles/PMC6821077/ /pubmed/31665165 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223752 Text en © 2019 Dickson et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Dickson, James H.
Oeggl, Klaus D.
Kofler, Werner
Hofbauer, Wolfgang K.
Porley, Ronald
Rothero, Gordon P.
Schmidl, Alexandra
Heiss, Andreas G.
Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey
title Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey
title_full Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey
title_fullStr Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey
title_full_unstemmed Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey
title_short Seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late Neolithic Tyrolean Iceman: Origins, taphonomy and the Iceman’s last journey
title_sort seventy-five mosses and liverworts found frozen with the late neolithic tyrolean iceman: origins, taphonomy and the iceman’s last journey
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6821077/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31665165
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223752
work_keys_str_mv AT dicksonjamesh seventyfivemossesandliverwortsfoundfrozenwiththelateneolithictyroleanicemanoriginstaphonomyandtheicemanslastjourney
AT oegglklausd seventyfivemossesandliverwortsfoundfrozenwiththelateneolithictyroleanicemanoriginstaphonomyandtheicemanslastjourney
AT koflerwerner seventyfivemossesandliverwortsfoundfrozenwiththelateneolithictyroleanicemanoriginstaphonomyandtheicemanslastjourney
AT hofbauerwolfgangk seventyfivemossesandliverwortsfoundfrozenwiththelateneolithictyroleanicemanoriginstaphonomyandtheicemanslastjourney
AT porleyronald seventyfivemossesandliverwortsfoundfrozenwiththelateneolithictyroleanicemanoriginstaphonomyandtheicemanslastjourney
AT rotherogordonp seventyfivemossesandliverwortsfoundfrozenwiththelateneolithictyroleanicemanoriginstaphonomyandtheicemanslastjourney
AT schmidlalexandra seventyfivemossesandliverwortsfoundfrozenwiththelateneolithictyroleanicemanoriginstaphonomyandtheicemanslastjourney
AT heissandreasg seventyfivemossesandliverwortsfoundfrozenwiththelateneolithictyroleanicemanoriginstaphonomyandtheicemanslastjourney