Maple leaves

Incredibly, maple leaves remained preserved under the ice for over 5000 years! But what could they have been used for?

The leaves had burn marks on them. Botanists therefore concluded that Ötzi had used them to wrap up embers from his last fire. Fresh leaves don’t burn easily and can be used as insulation material to keep the embers glowing.

After several hours on the move, the Iceman could have made a fire again just by blowing on the embers, which would have immediately started to burn again.