Researchers from the Institute for Mummy Studies have gained valuable insight into the diet of Copper Age humans – by taking a look inside the stomach of the Iceman.

The world’s most perfectly-preserved natural mummy, Ötzi the Iceman, was a man who lived between 3400 and 3100 BCE.

He was discovered in the Ötztal Alps by two hikers in 1991, and since then has been a valuable way for researchers to learn about the Copper Age.

Now, Ötzi’s preserved corpse has allowed researchers to reconstruct his meal from 5,300 years ago.

“It’s a unique chance to get an insight into the meals that they had in the Copper Age,” Albert Zink, the director of the Italy-based Institute for Mummy Studies, told CTV News Channel on Sunday. “It’s the first time we’ve had a complete meal.”

Researchers discovered that Ötzi’s last meal was high in fats, consisting of meat from the ibex, a mountain goat, as well as some grains and plant material from bracken.

Zink said that the diet was remarkably well balanced, and seems to have been carefully crafted to sustain Ötzi while walking in the snowy mountains.

“He needed a lot of energy,” Zink said. “A lot of calories.”

The meat he ate gives researchers greater understanding of the food sources humans had at the time. Despite coming from the time period where Europeans were first starting to domesticate animals, Ötzi’s meat came from hunting.

It was also air-dried instead of cooked, giving hints about how food was prepared in the Copper Age.

Zink said that the grain discovered in Otzi’s stomach is also of particular note, as it is one of the oldest domesticated grains, and a pre-cursor of modern wheat.

Researchers also discovered bracken, a type of toxic fern, in Ötzi’s stomach.

Zink said that without the bracken, the meal is not entirely dissimilar from what we would consider a healthy meal now.

“They really knew that they had to have fat, they have to have carbohydrates,” Zink said. “They had a meal that we would recommend now to people.”