A high-tech autopsy on the corpse of a man who died in the Alps 5,300 years ago may rob the Chinese of their claim to a medical first. Tattoo-like marks on the body suggest that Europeans were practising acupuncture at least two millennia before the technique was used in Asia.

Scientists have carried out extensive tests on the "iceman" who was discovered nine years ago 10,000ft up in the mountains. Nicknamed Oetzi, after the Oetztalen region on the border between Austria and Italy where he was found, he is now stored at -6C in a refrigeration chamber in the nothern Italian town of Bolzano.

The examination of Oetzi's body, which was thawed for four hours and explored with a miniature endoscope, found new evidence about the life of a man variously believed to have been a shepherd, warrior or shaman priest. In particular it has prompted speculation about 57 tattoos, lines and crosses etched into the skin with a bone or wooden needle.

Scientists at first believed the marks, made with a mixture of coal dust and water, were ornamental. Some said they may denote a tally of animals or humans Oetzi had killed, or religious ceremonies in which he had taken part. However, Eduard Egarter-Vigl, professor of anatomy at Bolzano University, who has co-ordinated international research on Oetzi, has suggested they were linked with arthrosis, a degenerative disease of the joints that afflicted him.

The marks are mainly on Oetzi's back and legs, and would not have been displayed. Several are on or within 5 millimetres of Chinese acupuncture points, including those used to treat arthrosis of the lower spine and pain in the left ankle.

"The tattoos definitely had a medical role," Egarter-Vigl said. "Their location corresponds to the areas where Oetzi suffered from arthrosis, including the spine, the knees and the Achilles heel. We now know that 5,000 years ago man understood techniques of natural medicine which played on specific areas of the body to alleviate pain. The history of medicine must be rewritten - it appears acupuncture was not invented in China in 1,500 BC as generally believed, but long before, in Europe."

Max Moser, a physiologist at the University of Graz in Austria, said the tattoos suggested contacts between prehistoric cultures may have been closer than previously thought.

Moser believes acupuncture may have been practised in Oetzi's day by many shamanistic cultures - characterised by rituals associated with the spirit world - but that only the Chinese formalised and maintained it in modern times.

Arthrosis was not the iceman's only medical complaint. In his mid-forties, relatively old by the standards of the period, he also had arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), a parasitic worm in his intestines and chilblains on his feet. His lungs were blackened by smoke and soot from fires, which he started with dried-fungus tinder.

Nor were Oetzi's last months peaceful. Studies of one of his nails - an organic "black box" because of the information they offer - show he endured three periods of stress in his last five months, the most serious of these lasting a fortnight just two months before he died.

His poor health prompted the scientists to re-examine earlier theories about the cause of his death, particularly in view of pollen found in his intestinal tract. This showed that soon before he died he had been in a valley below where he was found.

Some experts speculate that Oetzi may have been involved in a fight in his village and then fled into the mountains, where he succumbed to his injuries. But two of his four rib fractures had healed well before he died. Two other fractures were probably caused by the pressure of ice on his corpse.

"I don't believe he died a violent death," Egarter-Vigl said. "I've seen the body hundreds of times, and there is no sign of violence apart from the rib fractures. He was old, he was sick, and he may have suffered a heart attack due to his arteriosclerosis and the effort of climbing. I'm convinced he died in his sleep."

After a last meal of alpine goat, cereals, wild plums and strawberries, Oetzi is thought to have come to a halt in a gully. He dropped his copper-headed axe, along with his bow and fur quiver with its 14 flint-tipped arrows, then lay down on his left flank on a wide, flat stone. It became his resting place for more than 5,000 years.

(From The Sunday Times)