The Scene of the Find

The Iceman was discovered in a 40 m-long, 2.5- to 3 m-deep and 5- to 8 m-wide rocky gully surrounded by steep stone walls at an altitude of 3210 m above sea level. The bed of the gully is strewn with large boulders. The mummy lay on a large light-coloured granite slab at the western end of the rock formation. This formation protected the find from the enormous forces of the ice, which slowly built up above it. At the time the border was drawn in 1922, this area – now free of ice – was covered by a 20 m-thick layer of snow.