Europe's oldest natural human mummy, known as Ötzi the Iceman, is at the centre of a new scientific development that could be of benefit to the footwear and clothing industry.

His well preserved remains caused astonishment when they were uncovered in a glacier in the Alps on the border between Austria and Italy in 1991. The body, measuring 1.65 metres in length, has been on show in an archaeology museum in the Italian province of Bolzano.

More recent studies led by a German scientist, Klaus Hollemeyer, have used mass spectrometry to examine the clothes Ötzi was wearing when he died—from a crime or as part of a ritual sacrifice, perhaps—at the age of 45 around the year 3300 BC.

The conclusions of this examination was that he wore a coat and leggings made of sheepskin, and moccasins made from cow hide on his feet.