NEW VIP Contributors Announced!

[marolyn]

lhbrown...Your summer travels sound great! If you could find access, please consider creating a travel blog for LL that will let everyone share your trip. That way we can keep up with you, and you might be more likely to retain your vip status. Happy travels...Cheers...Marolyn

[curtiejoe]

Hi L



I envy you and the incrediblebiking and hiking tours you'll be undertaking this spring and summer through Germany, Austria and the Dolomites in Italy. I believe Bad Gastein's (with its spas and casino) not too far from Salzburg and therefore generally in the Alpine Mountain region where Oetzi was found. What I would give to be with you when your hiking tour takes you into that vicinity. Having written about the Iceman's likely journeys and adventures that could ultimately have brought him to the Otztal Alps where he died, It would be a fabulous experience to actually 'walk in his footsteps'! Hope you take lots of pictures and share some with us who stay behind.



Curt

[lhbrown]

Dear Marolyn, I will try....

[lhbrown]

Hi C,
I am not sure the Oetzi man got as far as Salzburg and Bad Gastein, but then he might have.... From what I remember, he came from the region of the Bodensee (Lake Constance if you like) which lies west to the Oetztal, Salzburg and Bad Gastein are more to the East. But back then, the hunters and gatherers were all over the mountains and valleys but he was quite a ways from home when he died. Yes, we are looking forward to our two biking and hiking trips and I promise I will take lots of pictures and share them with you. Still haven't quite figured out how to put them on an url... (from what my husband tells me, bucketshop.com is not free, they charge a fee.... but he will see if flicker will work..., Kodakgallery certainly was disappointing... the pictures go away when you shut off your computer....)

[curtiejoe]

hi L



The origins of the Iceman are completely unknown. The only sure thing that the scientists who're studying his skeletal remains know is where he was found (in a frozen crevass on top of the Otztaler Alps. From the few remains inside his intestines they surmise that he may have eaten his last meal somewhere to the south of the Alps, but no one knows for sure what types of crops grew where 5,000 years ago, as climatic conditions may have changed quite dramaticallysince then (just look at how world climates have changes just in the last 100 years alone!). Also, they surmise certain things from the tools and clothing he wore, but can't say for certain as no knows who wore what or made which tools and where so very long ago. In my novel about Oetzi, I too have surmised many aspects of his life but chose to place his home village north of the Alps not far from present-day Innsbruck in Austria. Good luck with your attempts to upload photos onto your future posts.



Curt

[claassenam]

Hi LHBrown,
I'd love to see your photos! www.photobucket.com is free for hosting your photos and this is the only place I've found that works with LL. It's fairly easy to use, just make sure you edit each photo (through photobucket) to be sized for an email or webpage.

[lhbrown]

Hi claassnam,
I will look into bucketshop again and will try... I am unfortunately not too technically inclined.... Thanks for the advice.

[lhbrown]

Hi C,
I am sure you are the expert on the Oetzi man and have done your homework on it. However, I remember there was a tv special show when they first found the Oetzi man that showed the Bodensee as a possible place where he might have come from. I remember seeing the wooden houses built on stilts in the water around the Bodensee, and how they lived in these elevated wooden structures. The tv show described their hunting trips in the mountains and their practices to go for days before returning back to the village. They also described their clothing and tools and their eating habits and foods. Innsbruck/Imst is where the Oetztal valley starts. If he set our from the Innsbruck region he probably followed the Oetz river into the mountains, maybe searching for the passage that Hannibal took. That passage is at the Roetenbach Glacier which is just a little lower where the Oetzi man was found. He was probably being chased or persued by ennemies since, if I recall correctly, he showed some spear marks in his upper shoulder bones... He could also have come from the Bodensee, following the Rhine and then the Inn rivers up towards Imst/Insbruck and then trying to cross the mountains (Hannibal passage) into Italy... In any case, it is a fascinating story and I for one look very much forward to reading your book when it comes out.
I will work on uploading pictures into my posts... still having trouble...

[lhbrown]

Dear LL_Moderator_ks

On April 5th you wrote:

"We would like to congratulate our new VIP Community Members:

marolyn

funtimes

fredhashway"

Why are these 3 new VIP Contributors as of April 14 still listed as "Regular Contributor" and their color designation has not yet been upgraded to "red"? Oversight on LL Moderators/Board Technicians part??? or too bussy???


Also, I have addressed a couple of messages to you and one personal message to you in your message box more than 10 days ago which are still awaiting your reply? The same goes for LL_Moderator Juno Hart whose messages from me still read "unread" after 2 months. I know you guys are busy... but..... I thought we had established a message board for direct communications with LL Moderators., but it doesn't seem to work... at least the replies are long in coming, and that goes for the personal messages box as well..... Some of us are putting a lot of effort into this Community board so I think, that when we try to contact LL Moderators directly concerning a problem or question, LL Moderators should at least accord us a reply in a timely fashion... I would think let courtesy prevail....

[curtiejoe]

Hi L



I very much enjoyed reading your latest post on Oetzi as you too are quite knowledgeable on this subject. And, yes, I did spend about five years all in all researching for the book I've written on his possible adventures and wanderings before being killed on top of the Otztal Alps over 5,000 years ago. I dare say, I've most likely seen every film, documentary and video on the Iceman, as well as read every book, magazine article, newspaper clipping and ALL that's currently posted on the Internet about the intrepid Stone Age hunter. So far, his origins are totally open to speculation.



After all, he could have come from almost anywhere in Europe. Who knows for sure? History tells us there were great folk wanderings throughout ancienttimes whereby entire populations or smaller groups trekked for scores of years over thousands of miles to find new and better homelands.As far as his eventual end is concerned, the exact location is of course known, but what's not known is why he decided to venture into the forbidding and dangerous region of the High Alps in the first place. And, moreover, what no one knows for sure is how he came to die there. Was he alone, on his way somewhere else? South, North, East or West? Was someone with him (a companion)? Was he being pursued by hostiles? Why?



These questions and many more, I've tried to provide plausible answers to in the context of a fictional novel constructed around the historical and modern-day framework of what little we know about this enigma of the very distant past (i.e the time of the building of the first Egyptian pyramid). I'll send you a copy when the book's ready.



Curt

Message Edited by curtiejoe on 04-14-200710:04 AM