Lasers Reveal Unique Tattoo Art of 1,200-Year-Old Peruvian Mummies


If tattoos fade easily within a human lifetime, consider the destruction of tattoos on 1,200-year-old mummies.

An international team of researchers, for the first time, used lasers to reveal the tattoos of mummies from Peru. This technique is used, detailed on January 13 study published in the journal PNASresearchers discovered beautiful intricate designs, and (literally) shed light on the intricate printing methods 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, with 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 apparently worsens as a body decomposes after death—archaeologists have few opportunity to study an ancient art form. When opportunities presented themselves, historical researchers used infrared imaging to analyze the design, which still failed to reveal the finer details of the tattoos, according to the study.

The new team 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 analyze ancient tattoos on mummified human remains—and the results are stunning.

“We basically turn 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, the researchers used lasers to make non-tattooed skin glow in sharp contrast to tattooed skin, even revealing delicate ink designs invisible to the naked 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 Chancay were a pre-Columbian people who lived along 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, it was written. by study researchers. These details “reflect the fact that each ink dot was deliberately placed by hand with great skill, creating a variety of beautiful geometric and zoomorphic patterns,” they added. “We can assume that this technique involves a sharp object better than a standard #12 modern tattoo needle, perhaps a cactus needle or sharpened animal bone based on known materials that artists can use.”

The researchers then compared the tattoo designs to other Chancay material culture, including pottery, textiles, and rock art, and determined that the tattoos were the culture’s “most elaborate art” found so far. .

“The study therefore reveals a higher level of artistic complexity in pre-Columbian Peru than previously appreciated, expanding the level of artistic development found in South America during this period,” the researchers explained.

Perhaps this first successful use of LSF to study mummy tattoos will lead to the discovery of older designs that will also give modern tattoos a run for their money.



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