World's Oldest Blood Found in Famed “Iceman” Mummy

Red blood cells are pretty useless for forensic/archeology science. There's no nucleus and no mitochondria and therefore no DNA. There may be some hemoglobin left but not very useful.

There is DNA bound to and stablished in the bones and if I remember correctly some DNA extraction and analysis has been done already on this specimen and it matched closely with people still in the region.

Which is interesting. For much of Southern Europe (greece, Italy, Spain) the current inhabitants are not related to the ancient inhabitants. But for isolated areas like the alps and Northern Europe the genetics are similar.

Though from a publication which seems entirely shady (click-whoring, shallow content etc), this article [0] really sucked me in. Absolutely astonishing that we have such a clear view of his last days.

[0]http://www.livescience.com/24666-otzi-iceman-mummy-life-deat...

You can actually stop and look at Ötzi in Bolzano/Bozen if you're ever in the area. The museum is very nicely done, and of course the area is gorgeous (Italy is overflowing with 'gorgeous') and interesting because 100 years ago, it was still very much part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and culturally, still is in many ways.

What does it say about mankind that Ötzi was murdered? Considering all the current day conflicts, we're not much more "civilized" than 5000 years ago!