Clear photos of the body of a 2,500-year-old Siberian ice mummy show tattoos that researchers say modern tattoo artists would have difficulty replicating.
It concerns the body of a woman of about fifty years old. She belonged to the nomadic, horse-riding Pazyryk people who lived on the vast steppe between China and Europe. Her body was found in the nineteenth century in the ice graves of the Altai, a mountain range in Siberia.
She had intricate tattoos of leopards, a deer, a rooster, and a mythical creature that is half lion and half eagle on her skin. Archaeologists have collaborated with a researcher who recreated these ancient skin decorations on his own body. They published the results of the research in the journal Antiquity.
Research shows that the images were probably applied to the skin with a template before tattooing. The researchers think that needle-like tools with multiple small points were used for it. The tool was probably made of an animal’s horn or bone. The color probably came from burnt vegetable material or soot.
The quality of the drawings differs per arm, the researchers conclude. That may indicate that they were made by different people or that they are mistakes. The tattoo artist who recreated the works estimates that it must have taken 4.5 to 5 hours to apply the tattoos.
“That’s real dedication,” he says. “Imagine sitting on the ground on the steppe where it’s windy all the time. This must have been done by someone who understands health and safety, someone who knows the risks when the skin is pierced.”
Lead researcher Gino Caspari tells BBC News that the new insights show “how intelligent these people were”. “Tattooing was already a very professional occupation, with people spending a lot of time and effort making these images. They were highly developed.”