Mysterious mummy with face tattoos STILL visible after 800yrs found & scientists are baffled by the ink that was used
LONG lost tattoos have been discovered on the face of an 800-year-old South American woman whose remains were donated to an Italian museum nearly a century ago.
While humans have been inking ourselves for millennia, according to researchers, the tattoos on this mysterious mummy are unique in several ways.
3
A minimalist but uncommon three-line design has been found on her cheeks
Credit: Mangiapane et al, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2025
3
The left cheek was not as well preserved as the right, but there are signs of a tattoo
Credit: Mangiapane et al, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2025
A team of anthropologists and archeologists, led by Gianluigi Mangiapane from the University of Turin in Italy, found unique tattoo designs on the mummy, which had been unusually well preserved.
The mummification process has darkened her skin, making the tattoos harder to see.
But with an array of imaging techniques, researchers have been able to get a better picture of the unique designs.
A minimalist but uncommon three-line design has been found on her cheeks - with the design on the right cheek being better preserved than the one on the right.
READ MORE ON ARCHAEOLOGY
Cheek tattoos are rarely discovered - or are easily missed - "due to difficulties in finding preserved skin," according to researchers.
"The three detected lines of tattooing are relatively unique: in general, skin marks on the face are rare among the groups of the ancient Andean region and even rarer on the cheeks," they wrote in their study,
published in
An S-shaped tattoo has also been found on one of her wrists - a common placement for tattoos among South American cultures the time.
The ink that was used is also pretty unique - consisting of magnetite
, a black, metallic, and magnetic iron ore
, instead of the usual charcoal.
Most read in Science
The mummy may therefore present "possibly [the] first evidence" of magnetite used for tattooing in the past in South America.
The body was found in a sitting position with no accompanying funerary wrappings, ornaments, or grave goods.
Shock footage reveals moment a medieval mummy is seized in house raid
But her black hair was well preserved by natural dehydration, while a few pieces of fabric were stuck to the surface of the body.
Researchers believe the textiles could be from long lost animal fibres wrappings or bundles.
It's unclear where the mummy came from, due to relatively shoddy museum records in the past century.
Her remains were donated to the Italian Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in 1931, with nearly no context besides the donors name.
Filed only under 'South American artifacts', the age of the remains, and where they came from, have remained a mystery until now.
Researchers were able to date the remains to from 1215 CE to 1382 CE.
And there are also some hints as to her origins.
The way her body was seated in an upright position suggests a preservation technique known as 'fardo'.
The body would have been wrapped tightly in this position with many layers of fabric and then tied in a bundle - a common funerary practice in Paracas culture, of the Andean region on the south coast of
3
An archive photograph from 1930 showing the mummified body in a museum showcase, alongside other human remains
Credit: Mangiapane et al, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2025
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The Irish Sun
22-05-2025
- The Irish Sun
Mysterious mummy with face tattoos STILL visible after 800yrs found & scientists are baffled by the ink that was used
LONG lost tattoos have been discovered on the face of an 800-year-old South American woman whose remains were donated to an Italian museum nearly a century ago. While humans have been inking ourselves for millennia, according to researchers, the tattoos on this mysterious mummy are unique in several ways. 3 A minimalist but uncommon three-line design has been found on her cheeks Credit: Mangiapane et al, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2025 3 The left cheek was not as well preserved as the right, but there are signs of a tattoo Credit: Mangiapane et al, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2025 A team of anthropologists and archeologists, led by Gianluigi Mangiapane from the University of Turin in Italy, found unique tattoo designs on the mummy, which had been unusually well preserved. The mummification process has darkened her skin, making the tattoos harder to see. But with an array of imaging techniques, researchers have been able to get a better picture of the unique designs. A minimalist but uncommon three-line design has been found on her cheeks - with the design on the right cheek being better preserved than the one on the right. READ MORE ON ARCHAEOLOGY Cheek tattoos are rarely discovered - or are easily missed - "due to difficulties in finding preserved skin," according to researchers. "The three detected lines of tattooing are relatively unique: in general, skin marks on the face are rare among the groups of the ancient Andean region and even rarer on the cheeks," they wrote in their study, published in An S-shaped tattoo has also been found on one of her wrists - a common placement for tattoos among South American cultures the time. The ink that was used is also pretty unique - consisting of magnetite , a black, metallic, and magnetic iron ore , instead of the usual charcoal. Most read in Science The mummy may therefore present "possibly [the] first evidence" of magnetite used for tattooing in the past in South America. The body was found in a sitting position with no accompanying funerary wrappings, ornaments, or grave goods. Shock footage reveals moment a medieval mummy is seized in house raid But her black hair was well preserved by natural dehydration, while a few pieces of fabric were stuck to the surface of the body. Researchers believe the textiles could be from long lost animal fibres wrappings or bundles. It's unclear where the mummy came from, due to relatively shoddy museum records in the past century. Her remains were donated to the Italian Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in 1931, with nearly no context besides the donors name. Filed only under 'South American artifacts', the age of the remains, and where they came from, have remained a mystery until now. Researchers were able to date the remains to from 1215 CE to 1382 CE. And there are also some hints as to her origins. The way her body was seated in an upright position suggests a preservation technique known as 'fardo'. The body would have been wrapped tightly in this position with many layers of fabric and then tied in a bundle - a common funerary practice in Paracas culture, of the Andean region on the south coast of 3 An archive photograph from 1930 showing the mummified body in a museum showcase, alongside other human remains Credit: Mangiapane et al, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2025
The Irish Sun
08-05-2025
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Tragic Pompeii discovery reveals doomed family's desperate bid to escape eruption by barricading door with bed
THE eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago is largely considered to be one of the worst in history - incinerating or suffocating thousands of people living at the base of it. And archaeologists have just uncovered the heartbreaking final moments of a young family's bid to survive. Advertisement 7 During a recent excavation of a house in Pompeii, archaeologists found the remains of four people, including a child, in a barricaded room Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 A bed had been moved against the bedroom door, in what was likely the family's last effort to escape the searing hot ash that was flooding the city Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii 7 The findings, published in Scavi di Pompei, offer an insight into the people who knew their lives were in trouble when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii During a recent excavation of a house in A bed had been moved against the bedroom door, in what was likely the family's last effort to escape the searing hot ash that was flooding the city. "In this small, wonderfully decorated house, we found traces of the inhabitants who tried to save themselves, blocking the entrance to a small room with a bed," Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archeological Park of Pompeii, said in a statement translated from Italian. The findings, published in Advertisement READ MORE ON POMPEII "Excavating and visiting Pompeii means coming face to face with the beauty of art but also with the precariousness of our lives," added Zuchtriegel. The house, named casa di Elle e Frisso, was first uncovered in 2019, during the excavations of a neighboring site called the House of Leda and the Swan. It was an ordinary day when Mount Vesuvius, a major stratovolcano, erupted and entombed the cities of This type of volcano is known for having extremely violent eruptions due to its magma containing higher levels of gas. Advertisement Most read in Science When Vesuvius first exploded, it sent a massive column of ash and volcanic rock into the air. The Tragic History of Pompeii This giant plume then poured down onto nearby towns, crushing houses and suffocating residents. A series of pyroclastic flows - fast-moving, searing avalanches of gas, ash and volcanic debris - then flooded through nearby towns and cities. Casa di Elle e Frisso, also known as the house of Helle and Phrixus, was a decorated home, with paintings and a banquet hall. Advertisement Researchers believe the home belonged to a middle or upper class Roman family. And a lack of decorations and elements suggests they might have been renovating at the time of the eruption. The destruction of Pompeii – what happened in 79 AD? Pompeii was an ancient Roman city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. It was destroyed, along with the Roman town of Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, and buried under volcanic ash in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The violent explosion killed the city's inhabitants, with the site lost for around 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years after that. The thermal energy released from Vesuvius was said to be a hundred thousand times that of the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima-Nagasaki. The remains beneath the city have been preserved for more than a millenium due to the lack of air and moisture in the ground. During excavations, plaster was injected into the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies, allowing scientists to recreate their exact poses at the time of their deaths. Mount Vesuvius is arguably the most dangerous volcano on earth. It had been inactive for almost a century before roaring back into life and destroying Pompeii. Since then, it has exploded around three dozen more times – most recently in 1944 – and stands in close proximity to three million people. Although its current status is dormant, Vesuvius is an 'extremely active' and unpredictable volcano, according to experts. To this day, scientists are finding cultural, architectural and human remains on the banks of Mount Vesuvius. Excavations at thermal baths in Pompeii's ruins in February revealed the skeleton of a crouching child who perished in the 79 AD eruption. One painting that was found depicts the mythological twins Phrixus and Helle fleeing from their stepmother on a magical ram with a golden fleece, before Helle fell to her death in the waters below. It's this painting that gave the house its name. Advertisement Other details found by archaeologists include a water basin, a bronze amulet thought to be worn by the child, bronze scales, bronze cooking pans and a hole in its roof to collect rainwater. Yet this hole is likely what let the deluge of ash swamp the home. 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RTÉ News
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- RTÉ News
Less-thirsty rice offers hope in drought-stricken Chile
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