New imaging reveals intricate tattoos on 2,000-year-old Siberian ‘ice mummy'
Although the prehistoric remains date from more than 2,000 years ago, the skin, and therefore the tattoos, of mummies from the region's Pazyryk culture have been preserved in permafrost in the Altai mountains, according to a statement from the journal Antiquity, which published the study, on Thursday.
The tattoos 'have long intrigued archaeologists due to their elaborate figural designs,' said study author Gino Caspari, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern, in the statement.
However, previous research on the tattoos has been based on early schematic drawings.
'These interpretations lacked clarity regarding the techniques and tools used and did not focus much on the individuals but rather the overarching social context,' said Caspari.
Now, however, researchers have been able to produce a 3D scan of one tattooed mummy using newly-available high-resolution near infrared photography, shedding light on the high-level of craftsmanship of Pazyryk tattoo artists.
Researchers worked with modern tattoo artists to identify the tools and techniques used by their ancient counterparts, revealing that this particular mummy had more intricate tattoos on its right forearm than on the left.
While the two tattoos share many of the same characteristics, the right arm shows 'a finer attention to detail and a greater array of visual techniques' compared to the left, according to the study.
The right arm tattoo most likely took at least two sessions to complete, and makes use of the contours of the wrist to allow the tattoo to flow over the arm, it adds.
This 'clever placement' not only 'showcases the artist's expertise,' but emphasizes a feline animal as the focal point of the tattoo, according to the study.
This expertise is further demonstrated by the clear and consistent linework, said the researchers.
'Achieving such crisp and uniform results, especially with hand-poked methods, would be a challenge even for contemporary tattooists using modern equipment,' they wrote.
This may mean that the work was carried out by two different artists, or the same artist at different stages of training, indicating that tattooing was a skilled craft for the Pazyryk, requiring formal training and technical ability, according to the statement.
'The study offers a new way to recognize personal agency in prehistoric body modification practices,' said Caspari.
'Tattooing emerges not merely as symbolic decoration but as a specialized craft – one that demanded technical skill, aesthetic sensitivity, and formal training or apprenticeship.'
This is not dissimilar to modern tattoo artists, he added.
'This made me feel like we were much closer to seeing the people behind the art, how they worked and learned and made mistakes,' said Caspari. 'The images came alive.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Stunning Tattoos Discovered on Siberian Mummy From 2,000 Years Ago
A woman who lived and died 2,000 years ago in the Altai Mountains of Siberia is opening a new window into ancient tattoos. A careful analysis of her mummified remains didn't just reveal tattooed figures across both hands and forearms, but the method whereby they were applied. These adornments, says a team of researchers led by Gino Caspari from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern in Germany, are some of the most elaborate ever seen from the Pazyryk culture to which she belonged. "The tattoos of the Pazyryk culture – Iron Age pastoralists of the Altai Mountains – have long intrigued archaeologists due to their elaborate figural designs," Caspari says. "Prior scholarship focused primarily on the stylistic and symbolic dimensions of these tattoos, with data derived largely from hand-drawn reconstructions. These interpretations lacked clarity regarding the techniques and tools used, and did not focus much on the individuals but rather the overarching social context." Related: Artist Tattooed Himself to Solve Mystery of Ötzi The Iceman's Tattoos Humanity has a rich and fascinating history of tattooing, from the sacred to the purely decorative to the downright odd. It's also likely that our ancestors practised it heavily, with evidence of the artform emerging across many ancient cultures dating back thousands of years. With a scarcity of preserved tattooing instruments, mummified skin often serves as the only record of the craft. Even then, the designs aren't always easy to see, since mummification hardens and darkens the skin significantly. This has made ancient tattoos somewhat difficult to study. In recent years, however, new imaging techniques have emerged; infrared and near-infrared photography reveals tattoos on mummified skin that may have been obscured in optical wavelengths, and laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals where ink has been deposited in the skin. Caspari and his colleagues turned to cutting-edge infrared photography to image in three dimensions the tattoos on the arms and hands of their unnamed Pazyryk woman, who was about 50 years old when she died. Then, they reconstructed the designs, and investigated how the tattoos were made. To do so, the team included archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf of the Tennessee Division of Archaeology, and tattoo artist Danny Riday of Ancestral Arts tattoo boutique in France. In previous research led by Deter-Wolf, Riday tattooed himself using a variety of historical techniques to create a living dictionary of tattoo marks against which to compare mummified remains. Their new findings revealed not only that different types of tools were used, but that different skill levels can be observed between the woman's hands and arms. On her hands, relatively simple images appear. On her right hand is a floral pattern; on her left, a cross, a floral or fish-like pattern, and a bird that looks like a rooster on her thumb. On her left forearm, a moose or elk-like animal is being attacked by a creature that resembles a gryphon. On her right forearm appears the most elaborate tattoo of all: two antlered ungulates, locked in a life-or-death struggle with two tigers and a leopard. The images were all hand-poked; the larger pieces created using a multi-point tool and then finished off with a separate, finer tool, likely with just one point, to achieve the narrower lines. A similar tool was probably used for the smaller motifs on her hands. The forearm tattoos required a greater level of skill than the tattoos on the hand – suggestive, perhaps, of either multiple artists, or a single artist whose techniques improved over time. "It was Danny's expertise that allowed us to evaluate the differences between the forearm tattoos, and describe the likely tools," Deter-Wolf told ScienceAlert. "This study provides the first positive evidence that the Pazyryk tattoos were created by hand poking, and establishes the use of multiple tool types. It also reiterates the ability of Pazyryk tattooers, and establishes them as skilled craftspeople comparable to the Iron Age artisans who created Scythian textiles, wood, leather, and metal work." These results suggest that tattooing was no idle pastime for the Pazyryk people, but an important part of the culture that called for skilled artists that honed their craft over time much like modern tattoo artists do. This is reinforced by one key detail seen in this mummy and the other six tattooed mummies from the same region in the early Iron Age: none of the tattoos overlap, and many of them are perfectly placed for the part of the body on which they were inscribed. It suggests that the placement of tattoos was thought-out and very intentional, and thus an important part of Pazyryk culture. "The study offers a new way to recognize personal agency in prehistoric body modification practices. Tattooing emerges not merely as symbolic decoration but as a specialized craft – one that demanded technical skill, aesthetic sensitivity, and formal training or apprenticeship," Caspari says. "This made me feel like we were much closer to seeing the people behind the art, how they worked and learned and made mistakes. The images came alive." The research has been published in Antiquity. Related News Reading Hits Differently to Listening For Your Brain, Science Says 'World's Oldest Baby' Born From 30-Year-Old Frozen Embryo This Potent Psychedelic Mysteriously Echoes Near-Death Experiences Solve the daily Crossword
Gizmodo
4 days ago
- Gizmodo
Impossibly Intricate Tattoos Found on 2,000-Year-Old ‘Ice Mummy'
For the first time, archeologists have gotten a detailed look at the intricate tattoos on a 2,000-year-old ice mummy, found buried deep within the permafrost-covered mountains of Siberia. These tattoos would be challenging to produce even today, the researchers say, suggesting that ancient tattoo artists possessed a considerable degree of skill. With help from modern tattoo artists, an international team of researchers examined the mummy's tattoos in unprecedented detail and identified the tools and techniques that ancient societies may have used to create body art. The findings were published in the journal Antiquity. Like it is now, getting inked up was a common practice in prehistoric societies. Studying the practice is tough, however, because skin is rarely preserved in archaeological remains. The 'ice-mummies' of the Altai mountains, in Siberia, are a notable exception—they were buried in chambers now encased in permafrost, sometimes preserving the skin of those within. The Pazyryk people were horse-riding nomads who lived between China and Europe. 'The tattoos of the Pazyryk culture—Iron Age pastoralists of the Altai Mountains—have long intrigued archaeologists due to their elaborate figural designs', Gino Caspar, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern, said in an emailed statement. Scientists haven't been able to study these tattoos in great detail, due to limitations in imaging techniques. Many of these tattoos are invisible to the naked eye, meaning scientists didn't know they were there when the mummies were initially excavated in the 1940s. Researchers need infrared imaging to visualize ancient tattoos because skin degrades over time, and the colors of the tattoos fade and bleed into the surrounding skin, making them faint or invisible to the naked eye. Infrared light, with its longer wavelengths compared to visible light, penetrates deeper into the skin and reveals what lies beneath the surface. So, until now, most studies were based on drawings of the tattoos, rather than direct images. But advances in imaging technology have finally allowed researchers to take high-resolution images of the mummies and their tattoos. The researchers used high-resolution digital near-infrared photography to create a 3D scan of the tattoos on a 50-year-old woman from the Iron Age age, whose preserved remains are housed at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Artistic renderings of the newly discovered tattoos reveal detailed tattoos of leopards, stags, roosters, and a mythical half-lion, half-eagle creature. The researchers found that, like with many modern-day humans, the tattoos on the mummy's right arm are much more detailed and technical than those on the left. This suggests that the two different ancient tattooers, or the same tattooer after they beefed up their skills, were responsible. The scans also suggest that the artists used several tools—with one or multiple points—and that the tattoos were completed over multiple sessions. This suggests that tattooing was not just a form of decoration in Pazyryk culture but a skilled craft that required building skills and technical ability. Many other individuals were buried at the same site, indicating that tattooing was likely a common practice. 'The study offers a new way to recognize personal agency in prehistoric body modification practices,' Caspari said in a statement. 'Tattooing emerges not merely as symbolic decoration but as a specialized craft—one that demanded technical skill, aesthetic sensitivity, and formal training or apprenticeship.'
New York Post
6 days ago
- New York Post
Wild tattoos of 2,500-year-old Siberian ‘ice mummy' revealed for first time
The ornate tattoos of a 2,500-year-old Siberian 'ice mummy' have finally been revealed using advanced imaging technology, according to a report. High-resolution images derived using infrared technology show the long-dead 50-year-old woman was inked-up across her body with tribal animal designs, the BBC reported. 5 The mummy was pulled from the permafrost near Russia's Altai Mountains in 1993. M. Vavulin Advertisement The intricate and ornate tats show leopards, a stag, a rooster, and a griffin-like creature. Her arms were tattoo'd with the leopard and stag, the half-lion half-eagle beast was on her leg, and the rooster was tatted on the mummy's thumb, according to researchers. 'The insights really drive home to me the point of how sophisticated these people were,' the study's lead author Dr. Gino Caspari, from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, told BBC. Advertisement 5 Left forearm tatoo. D. Riday 5 Right forearm tattoo. D. Riday 'This made me feel like we were much closer to seeing the people behind the art, how they worked and learned. The images came alive,' Dr. Caspari said. The female mummy is one of three fleshickles plucked from the permafrost on the Okok Plateau in the Altai Mountains in Russia in 1993. She was part of a Pazyryk tribe — horse-riding nomads who dominated the Eurasian plains from the 6th to 3rd centuries BC. Advertisement 5 Hand tattoos, including rooster on the thumb. D. Riday The 'Ice Maiden's' tattoos have proved to be an insight into the mysterious Pazyryk tribe who were apparently dedicated and expert tattoo artists. 'If I was guessing, it was probably four and half hours for the lower half of the right arm, and another five hours for the upper part,' Dr. Caspari said, adding, 'That's a solid commitment from the person.' 'It would need to be performed by a person who knows health and safety, who knows the risks of what happens when the skin is punctured.' Advertisement Much like contemporary tattoos, the process included a stencil of the design on the skin first with the ink being inserted under the skin with a needle-like tool, the researchers claimed. 5 The infrared imaging of the mummy's skin showed the leopard print of one of the tattoos. M Vavulin 'And back in the day it was already a really professional practice where people put a lot of time and effort and practice into creating these images and they're extremely sophisticated,' said Dr. Caspari. 'It suggests that tattoos were really something for the living with meaning during life, but that they didn't really play much of a role in the afterlife.'
