ScienceAugust 19, 2026

entombed

en-TOOMD

Definition

Placed in a tomb or buried deeply within something, such as ice or soil, so that the object is encased or hidden.

Etymology

Derived from the Old French 'entomber,' which combines the prefix 'en-' (in or into) with 'tombe' (a grave or burial place), ultimately tracing back to Greek roots meaning a mound or tomb.

In the news

The article discusses how researchers once believed Ötzi had been preserved through an uninterrupted five-millennia entombment, meaning he was sealed away and left undisturbed in the glacier ice.

In 1991, two hikers in the Ötztal Alps found a body sticking out of the melting ice and assumed it was a recent climber, but the corpse turned out to be a 5,300-year-old man with an arrowhead in his shoulder, 61 tattoos, and a 99.7%-pure copper axe whose met

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ScienceBlog.com

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