No perpetrator can be identified, and no motive can be established. The copper axe was not taken — an observation that has been used to argue either that the motive was not robbery, or that the shooter was interrupted before they could collect it, or that some other factor governed the events. These are inferences from the evidence; the actual dynamics of that encounter in the mountains around 3300 BCE are irrecoverable.
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## The First Genome: 2012 and Its Findings
In 2012, a team led by Andreas Keller published what was at the time a remarkable achievement: the first full genome sequence of a preserved ancient mummy. The paper appeared in *Nature Communications* on February 28, 2012, and represented one of the milestones of then-emerging ancient DNA science.
The 2012 genome produced several findings that entered the scientific literature and the popular press with considerable confidence. Among the most widely cited: Ötzi belonged to mitochondrial haplogroup K1, a lineage now seen in populations across Europe and the Middle East. His Y chromosome belonged to haplogroup G2a2b, a paternal lineage that in modern populations is relatively rare in Europe but more common in the Caucasus and parts of the Middle East. His autosomal DNA showed closest affinity to Sardinians and Corsicans among modern European populations — a finding that was interpreted as a trace of the ancient pre-steppe-migration European gene pool, since Sardinia is known to have been a relatively isolated refuge where older Neolithic ancestry persisted longer than in most of Europe.
The 2012 study also found evidence for genetic variants associated with lactose intolerance (consistent with pre-pastoralism or early pastoralism populations who had not yet adapted to dairy), Type O blood, brown eyes, and an elevated genetic risk for cardiovascular disease.