The issues relating to the custodianship and ownership of the Iceman and the ethics involved in displaying his human remains.

There have been various disputes on the custodianship of the Otzi iceman. The official discoverer of the iceman, Helmut Simons who one day, along with his partner traveling along the alps and stumbled across Otzi, was entitled to 25% of the iceman’s value as ruled by the Italian Government in compensation for their discovery. Initially, Simons turned down an offer of 5200 euros by the government and sued as he thought this was unsatisfactory to his demand and the initial value of the iceman. He emphasized his role in finding this mummy and demanded $300,000 US dollars in return for his find. Following this, 2 other persons claimed that they had discovered the body first, Magdalena Mohar Jarc who claims she found the iceman and requested Simons take photographs, therefore finding the body first. Sandra Nemeth also claims she spat on the body as she discovered it before Simons and Magdalena, although scientists could not find traces of this. These cases were all held in the “Bolzano” court. Helmut Simons died in 2004, although in 2006, his discovery was eventually recognized and the legal costs would be paid wholly to his partner Mrs. Erika Simons who reduced her claim to 150,000 euros and is rewarded this in recognition of the tourist attraction to the iceman. In terms of ethics, one of the most important questions was on the ownership of the Otzi iceman. There were also disputes on whether the iceman belonged to Germany or Italy as he laid in between the borders, although briefly investigated, it was proven that Italy would receive ownership. In terms of the ethics within displaying the iceman’s remains, great importance was placed on restrained presentation, this is evident through a small “window” 40 x 30 cm in which people could decide to look at the iceman and was not salient and centered for attention in the museum. In doing this, scientists try to maintain the balance of displaying essentially a human being but nevertheless also portraying its scientific value. Burial of the iceman has been an issue although the scientific value of the iceman and its significant lead to history, considering he had the oldest intact remains available has over ruled the ethical issues but instead compromised and compensated with retrained visual access to museum visitors and an extent for scientists to research the iceman.