On the skin of Egyptian mummies was found the most ancient tattoos
Scientists have discovered the oldest figurative tattoo on the skin of two Egyptian mummies 5,000 years old.
On the upper arm of the mummy of the men depicted wild ox and Barbary sheep. On the upper arm and shoulder of the mummy women shows a pattern of characters similar to the Latin letter S.
Still considered the most ancient tattoos, made 4,000 years ago.
Details of the tattooed Egyptian mummies published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Daniel Antoine, curator of physical anthropology at the British Museum and one of the main authors of the study of mummies, says that this discovery completely changed our understanding of how people lived in that era.
Now we learn new details of how people lived then. These mummies are very well preserved.Daniel Antoine
The mummy of a man was found 100 years ago.
The CT scan results indicate that this man at the age from 18 to 21 years died from a knife in the back.
Dark spots on his arm were considered not important as long as the result of an infrared scan revealed that this tattoo, which depicts two horned animals. One of them like a wild bull with a long tail and big horns, and the second, apparently, depicts Barbary sheep, with curved horns.
Shoulder mummy women depicted four symbols similar to the letter S. On the hand she has symbols similar to the wand that was used during ritual dances.
Tattoos on both mummies are made under the skin, probably with soot.
Archaeologists still believed that in ancient times tattoos were applied only to women, but the image on the skin of a mummy of a male indicate that it was done by both sexes.
The mummies were discovered in Gebelein in Upper Egypt, about 40 kilometers South of Luxor.