If tattoos can easily fade within a person's lifetime, imagine the wear and tear on the tattoos of 1,200-year-old mummies.
An international team of researchers has, for the first time, used lasers to reveal tattoos on mummies from Peru. Using this technique, which is detailed in a January 13 study published in the journal PNASresearchers discovered beautiful intricate designs, and (literally) shed light on the intricate tattooing practices of the ancient Chancay culture. Their findings reveal a higher level of artistic skill in pre-Columbian Peru than previously thought.
Tattoos have existed as a form of artistic expression for over 5,000 years, including oldest example belonging to the famous Otzi the Icemanwho died in the Alps between Austria and Italy about 3300 BCE. However, because remains of ancient soft tissue are rare and tattoos fade and bleed over time—a condition that obviously worsens as a body decomposes after death—archaeologists have little chance of -study the ancient art form. In the instances that presented themselves, researchers historically used infrared imaging to study the design, which still failed to uncover the details of the tattoo, according to the study.
The team recently used a technique called laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF), which uses lasers to reveal details within soft tissue, to study tattoos on Peruvian mummies. Paleontologists have used LSF for years to study dinosaur remains, according to Science Alertbut it marks the first time the technique has been used to study ancient tattoos on mummified human remains—and the results are incredible.
“We basically turn the skin into a light bulb,” said Thomas G. Kaye of the nonprofit Foundation for Scientific Advancement in Arizona, who participated in the study, as reported by Associated Press. In other words, researchers used lasers to make non-tattooed skin glow in sharp contrast to tattooed skin, even revealing delicate ink designs invisible to the eye.
The researchers, including a scientist from José Faustino Sánchez Carrión National University in Peru, studied more than 100 approximately 1,200-year-old mummified human remains belonging to the Chancay culture. The Chancays were a pre-Columbian people who lived on the central coast of modern-day Peru between about 900 and 1533 CE, according to the study. Now recognized for their textiles, they were eventually absorbed into the Incan Empire.
Although most of the tattoos on Chancay mummies are “amorphous patches with poorly defined edges,” some of the designs have lines between 0.0039 and 0.0079 inches (0.1 to 0.2 millimeters) thick, wrote by study researchers. These details “reflect the fact that each ink dot has been deliberately placed by hand with great skill, creating a variety of beautiful geometric and zoomorphic patterns,” they added. “We can assume that this technique involved a sharp object finer than a standard #12 modern tattoo needle, perhaps a single cactus needle or sharpened animal bone based on known materials available to artists.”
The researchers then compared the tattoo designs to other material culture Chancay, including pottery, textiles, and rock art, and determined that the tattoos were the “most elaborate art” of the culture found. until now.
“The study therefore shows a higher level of artistic complexity in pre-Columbian Peru than previously appreciated, extending the level of artistic development found in South America at this time,” the researchers explained. .
Perhaps the first successful use of LSF to study tattoos on mummies will lead to the discovery of more ancient designs that will also give modern tattoos a run for their money.
