Alpine summits at 3,000 to 4,000 m may have been ice free until about 5,900 years ago, just before the lifetime of the Tyrolean Iceman (Oetzi), when new glaciers started to form, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. The findings suggest that only the highest Alpine summits (4000 m and above) remained covered in ice for all of the current geological epoch, the Holocene, which began approximately 11,650 years ago.