At least twice the age of other bodies recovered from ice or bogs, he offered a unique window on the dawn of civilization. Much of our knowledge of prehistory comes from artifacts interred at ritual burial sites. But the Iceman died carrying the tools of everyday life, and so tells a direct story of the way his people wrung sustenance from the land. The treasure-trove uncovered with his body included a longbow, a quiver of arrows, a copper ax and a leather ''fanny pack'' containing sewing materials and flint blades. Archaeologists had long been familiar with fragments of these items, but now they could see how they fit together.
Archaeology is a curious mix of precision and imagination.
Gathering the data requires painstaking care. Remnants of past lives must be dug up, labeled, pieced together and compared with other relics. After that comes the detective work. It is one thing to find out about our ancestors' pots and pans. But what we really want to know is what they did on a Saturday night.