Shape and material of a copper axe blade found in 2008 at a Neolithic site in Riedmatt, Switzerland was proven to be practically identical to one found by Ötzi, the 5000-year-old individual discovered in the Italian Alps in 1991.

The researchers at University of Bern state that the copper axe found in Switzerland is practically identical to those that were used by Neolithic peoples further South. This proves that the use of copper North of the Alps 5000 years ago was strongly linked to and influenced by the practices further South. It is now assumed that the Riedmatt blade actually travelled north from southern Tuscany, just like the one found with the mummified skeleton of Ötzi, on the Italian-Austrian border. Chemical analysis of both blades suggests that both belong to a similar context of copper mining and processing in the ore rich area around Campiglia Marittima, in Tuscany.

(after Kanton Zug & Swissinfo)