The story of Ötzi is part of the SPIEGEL-HISTORY issue: People of the Stone Age - our amazing ancestors. It also shows how science today measures early human history.
There are no records or documents from the Stone age, this almost unimaginable period of 2.6 million years. Very different early humans moved from Africa into the world, their existence repeatedly threatened by dramatic climatic events. Little by little they developed language, art and medicine. Eventually they discovered agriculture and village life. Today we can draw conclusions about their culture.