Tattoos found on ancient Egyptian mummies are oldest of their kind

Researchers have discovered theoldest figurative tattoos in the world on the upper arms of twoancient Egyptian mummies, the British Museum said on Thursday.

A male mummy was found to have tattoos depicting a wild bulland a Barbary sheep on its upper arm, while a female has linearand S-shaped motifs on its upper arm and shoulder.

The artworks appeared as dark smudges in natural light butresearchers at the British Museum and Oxford University'sFaculty of Oriental Studies found the tattoos in 2017 withinfrared photography.

"It's actually providing completely new insights into theuse of tattooing," Daniel Antoine, curator of physicalanthropology at the British Museum, told Reuters.

"The location of these tattoos suggests they were designedto be highly visible on the upper arm and the shoulder," hesaid, adding that the discoveries push back by 1,000 yearsevidence for tattooing in Africa.

Tattooed mummies

7 years ago

Duration 0:46

Oldest figurative tattoos found on ancient Egyptians

The mummies were unearthed 100 years ago in the Egyptiantown of Gebelein, around 40 kilometres(24 miles) south of modern-dayLuxor. They date to 3351 to 3017 BC, which is the Predynasticperiod before Egypt was unified by the first Pharaoh.Tattoos have previouslybeen found onmummies from later in Egypt's history.

Not just for women

Researchers said the female tattoos may have denoted status,bravery or magical knowledge, while the male's were likelysymbols of virility and strength.

Prior to the discovery, archaeologists believed tattooing inEgypt was only performed on women, as tattoos were only depictedon female figurines of the period.

The oldest surviving tattoos are geometric designs on amummified corpse known as Otzi, who lived around 5,300 years agoand was discovered preserved in the Italian Alps in 1991.

The research, lead by Antoine and Oxford University's ReneeFriedman, was published in the Journal of Archaeological Scienceon March 1.

• An ancient papyrus reveals how the Great Pyramid of Giza was built
• Visit a mysterious chamber underneath Giza's Great Pyramid