Tattoos found on the face and arm of a South American mummy intrigue researchers. The patterns represented and the pigments used are completely distinguished from all the known examples of ancient bodily art. The mummy, originally from the Andes, would have more than eight centuries. An article from the British online magazine Iflscience specifies that no drawing of this kind had never been studied until then.
Currently kept at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the University of Turin, in Italy, the mummified woman has not yet delivered all her secrets. Its exact origin, both geographic and cultural, remains unknown. The curled up position of the body and the presence of fragments of textiles adherent to the skin suggest that it has been buried in a funeral “eyeshadow”, a kind of canvas sarcophagus typical of the Andean region.
Carbon 14 dating of these textiles located the death of the mummy between 1215 and 1382 of our era. If some tattoos were visible to the naked eye, others were only revealed using advanced imaging techniques. This prehispanic woman therefore sported three straight and spaced lines on the right cheek, ranging from mouth to ear.
“In general, skin brands on the face are rare among the peoples of the old Andean region and even more on the cheeks”explain the authors of the study. A simple S pattern, tattooed on the right wrist, is also described as a tattoo “Unpublished in the region”no parallel having been identified on other mummies.
The researchers thus underline the originality of these brands. “Regarding the cultural classification on the basis of tattoos, the discoveries made on the mummy of Turin are unique.” In the absence of comparison, they cannot advance any hypothesis on the meaning or function of these tattoos, although their very visible location suggests a decorative or communicative role.
The chemical analysis of the pigments reveals another surprise. The tattoos were carried out with a mixture of magnetite, an iron ore, and pyroxenes, silicate minerals. Unlike the current practice of the time, no charcoal – the most frequently used black with ancient tattoos – has been detected.
“To our knowledge, the use of magnetite as a black pigment for tattooing had never been reported on South American mummies”specify the researchers, adding that “The identification of pyroxenes as a tattoo pigment is even rarer”. Further research will be necessary to try to better understand this unique mummy, and to unravel the mystery of his tattoos.
