The Independent from London, Greater London, England • 29

THE INDEPENDENT SATURDAY NOVEMBER 20(35 29 spat on it "in order to leave DMA evidence of my Ms Jarc claimed that it was she who first saw Oetzi. She left in order to find someone to photograph him, she said and returned with the Simons. It has been established that Oetzi wasaman of 30 to 45years of age, who stood about 5ft Sin tall. In the past 14 years his body has been studied exhaustively by teams of scientists from around the world. They have analysed the contents of his intestines to determine his last meals, which consisted of ibex, red deer, grains and pollen.

They have inspected his colon, finding that he was infested with whipworm, and feshbnedrepKcasofhisfootwear.which were made of animal skin stuffed with dried grass Examination of his clothes has revealed the presence of fleas. The minerals inhis tooth enamel have been pored over to determine his stamping-ground At onepoint he was evenbriefty thawed to enable skin and tissue samples to be taken. He continues to exert fascination, among laymen as well as the scientific community; And, if proponents of the curse theory are to be believed, he continues to exact some strange form of vengeance on the people closely involved with him. EUROPE Qockwfse from left: the body of the Stone Age hunter nicknamed Oetzi; the site in the Oetzal Alps in Italy where the discovery was made; Helmut Simon, who first found the body in 1991 and died in a freak blizzard; the Austrian archeologist Konrad Spindler, who scoffed at the curse but died last April; and the molecular biologist Tom Loy, who died a fortnight ago REUTERS; AF; PAUL HANN VG AMMA settlement of 34,000, Mr Simon returned to the Alpsta celebrate the legal victory, but met his death in the snowy wastes. His wife has yet to receive any of the reward money.

Their claim was disputed by a Slaver nian actress, Magdalena Mohar Jarc, and a Swiss hiker, Sandra Nemeth, both of whom maintained that they came across the corpse before the Simons. Ms Nemeth said she became embroiled in a bitter row with the couple, during which she fell over the corpse. She was so determined to stake her clainv shetoldthe courtsythat she THE SANGORSKI CURSE The SangorskT edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was billed as one of the world's most ornate books, but ft sank with the Titanic In 1912. Six weeks later, its creator, Francis San-gorsld, drowned fn a bathing accident. When Stanley Bray dedded to replicate the book by working from San-gorski's original prints, bad luck struck again.

This time the book was obliterated In the London Blitz. A third version is now in the British Library. Karia Adam Italy, however, was determined to claim Oetzi for its own. The Italian authorities were convinced that his grave lay inside their border and, after the establishment of a boundary commission, he was repatriated over the Brenner Pass under armed guard. The Iceman now resides in the South Tyrol Museum in Bolzano, where he earns millions of dollars a year in entry fees.

The Simons fought for years for a share of that money, Entualfy the Italian courts recognised themastheoffi-cial finders, and they were awarded a arrow; he also had cuts on his hands, wrists and rib-cage. Dr Loy concluded from blood samples on an arrow that he might have Mlledtwoofhis assailants and retrieved it to fire again. In an interview a few years ago, he said: "On the basis of all my examinations, Oetzfs speciality was hunting the high alpine passes for ibex wild goat and possibly chamois, which would have taken him into boundary conditions where other people would have disputed the territory: 1 suspect that as he realised his life was ending, he stopped, put his TUTANKHAMUN The inscription outside the ancient Egyptian king's tomb read: "Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the King." And it did When Howard Carter found the tomb in the 1920s, he called on his wealthy patron, Lord Carnarvon, to inspect his discovery. After entering, Carnarvon died of a high fever caused by an infected mosquito bite on his cheek. As he died, the power in Cairo mysteriously failed and the dty went dark.

gear down, stacked it neatly agauist a rock wall and lay down and expired. He didn't keel over, although he was probably tired, exhausted and hurt like hen," Controversy surrounded the cadaver from the start. After the Simons found it in the melting glacier, its head and shoulder protruding from the ice, the Austrian authorities took it to Innsbruck for examination. Initial assumptions that it was a modern corpse that of a hiker who had struck misfortune, for instance -were overturned, amid high excitement THE HOPE DIAMOND The world's most famous diamond is also thought to be unlucky for those close to it. The gem was allegedly stolen by merchant Jean Baptfste Tav-ernier from the eye of a Hindu statue.

He was later torn apart by wild dogs In Russia. Marie Antoinette was another unlucky owner. The curse also affected the Hope family, who went bankrupt. A later MMiar Fuakm Walah MH oin also suffered: her first son died in a car crash, her daughter committed suicide and her husband was declared insane. I ii The Hope Diamond.