His quiver contained fourteen arrows, two of which were finished: they had flint tips knapped to a usable broadhead shape, with fletching from feathers. The remaining twelve arrows were in various stages of incompletion — some shafted, some unshafted, most without tips. The two finished arrows had been used: they showed evidence of having been fired and recovered, with the shafts worn and the tips chipped.
This picture — a finished copper axe, two serviceable arrows, an unfinished bow, twelve unfinished arrows — has been interpreted as evidence that Ötzi was in a period of equipment repair and construction following some event that had depleted or damaged his usual toolkit. The theory that he had recently been in a violent encounter fits: a fight could have broken or scattered equipment, leaving him with two serviceable arrows and a need to construct or replace his bow.
The unfinished state of his equipment also fits the defensive wound on his right hand — a cut between the thumb and index finger, consistent with grabbing a blade during a fight — that showed clear signs of healing at the time of his death but was still not fully healed. If the hand wound was from a fight several days before his death, it would have limited his ability to do the fine work of arrow-making and bow-finishing; the incomplete state of his equipment might reflect an inability to work at full capacity.
These are inferences from the physical evidence. They construct a plausible sequence without documenting it. What is documented is the state of the equipment itself.