Otzi's Hat

A few years ago, a body was discovered in a melting glacier near the border between Austria and Italy. 'It turned out to be 5,300 years old, the oldest frozen mummy ever found. Named Ötzi the Iceman after the Ötztal area where he was found, he became a worldwide sensation.' It's a fantastic trove for archaeologists, anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, and historians. Otzi's hat was of brown bear fur. It's extraordinary and humbling to imagine the skill, creativity (would they have recognized that term as useful or understood it differently, maybe as inventiveness or inspiration?), and strength of a people who lived and prospered in such an environment so long ago. ref