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The Border Question
Soon after the mummy was recovered, rumours spread that it had actually been found on the Italian side of the border and not – as originally thought – on Austrian soil.
In accordance with the 1919 Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye between Austria and the Allied powers, the border was drawn along the watershed between the Inn and Etsch Valleys. In the area of the Tisenjoch, however, the glacier made it difficult to establish the exact location of the watershed.
A new survey of the border carried out on October 2, 1991 clarified the matter. It turned out that the find was 92.56 m from the border in South Tyrol, i.e. in Italy.
Although the find site drains towards the Inn Valley, i.e. towards the north, the boundary established after the First World War remains valid under international law.
The province of South Tyrol therefore claimed property rights but entrusted the finds as a whole to Innsbruck University until scientific examinations could be completed. The South Tyrolean authorities also gave permission for the Institute of Primaeval and Early History at Innsbruck University to carry out further archaeological investigations at the find scene.
Today a four-meter-high stone pyramid marks the spot where the glacier mummy was discovered.
