An unconventional experiment challenges common assumptions about Otzi the Iceman’s tattoos.
Ötzi, a mummy about 5,200 years old, was discovered in 1991 on a mountain glacier bordering Austria and Italy. His body boasted the oldest known tattoos in the world, totaling 61, with black lines and crosses on Ötzi’s left wrist, lower leg, waist, and chest.
Scientists long believed that Ötzi received his tattoos by rubbing charcoal ash into his skin using sharp stone tools. However, this theory had never been tested until now.
Archaeologist Aaron Deterwolf from the Tennessee Department of Archaeology in Nashville led a team that conducted experiments on tattooing. Their research, which involved exploring traditional tattoo practices globally, suggests that the prevailing assumption about Ötzi’s tattoos’ origin is incorrect.
Instead, a handheld tool with a pigmented tip likely punctured numerous small holes in Ötzi’s skin to create his tattoos. This finding was shared in a news story in the European Archaeology Journal on March 13.
The hand-prick technique, found in various non-industrial cultures worldwide, may have been used in Ötzi’s central European homeland.
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Tattoo for Science
In 2022, a study by Mr. Deter-Wolf and two professional tattoo artists provided insights into tattooing techniques. The tattoo artists, specializing in traditional methods, used various tools made from animal bones, obsidian, copper, boar tusks, and steel needles to recreate Ötzi’s tattoos on one artist’s leg.
The researchers compared microscopic images of the artist’s tattoos after six months of healing with Ötzi’s tattoos. The study found that the tattoos created using hand-poking techniques with bone points or copper awls were most similar to Ötzi’s tattoos.
Both the modern artist’s and Ötzi’s tattoos had lines between 1 and 3 millimeters wide, featuring many small dots and rounded edges with irregular dye oozing along the edges.
While the study doesn’t definitively prove how Ötzi got his tattoos, it offers substantial evidence for hand-poking techniques. Marco Sammaderi from the Eulac Institute in Bolzano, Italy, noted the need for further testing on artifacts near Ötzi that could have been used in the tattooing process.
Source: www.snexplores.org
