Iceman Mummy Tattoos More Than 5,000 Years Old

by alia_d | August 19, 2009 at 04:25 pm

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Scientists have discovered the oldest tattoo ever found on a mummy. The mummy tattoos were found on the mummy of "Otzi", a 5300-year-old frozen iceman that was found in the Alps in 1991. The iceman tattoos were drawn with firesoot.

The discovery of the mummy tattoos was made by a team led by Maria Pabst of Austria's Medical University of Graz. They released a study in the Journal of Archeological Science.

"Skin samples of several line tattoos and a cross tattoo were investigated," says the study. "On the skin of the Tyrolean Iceman there are groups of one, two, three, four and seven tattoo-lines parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body and two crosses."

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Past scholars note the tattoos may correspond to pressure points for acupuncture treatments, the authors say. All of the tattoos appear to be soot taken from the same fireplace, except on the right leg, which suggests it may have been applied at a different time.