Picture Tattoos Spotted on 3,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA—Most tattoos found on Egyptian mummies are patterns of dots or dashes, but according to a report in Nature, bioarchaeologist Anne Austin of Stanford University found tattoos representing actual objects on a 3,000-year-old mummified woman from Deir el-Medina, the village where the artisans who worked on tombs in the Valley of the Kings are thought to have lived. Using infrared lighting and an infrared sensor, Austin and her team recorded more than 30 tattoos on the woman’s remains. Many of the images, which include pictures of lotus blossoms on the woman’s hips, cows on her arm, baboons on her neck, and wadjet eyes on her neck, shoulders, and back, are associated with the goddess Hathor. “Any angle that you look at this woman, you see a pair of divine eyes looking back at you,” Austin said. Some of the images are more faded than others, and are thought to have been applied as the woman aged. To read in-depth about the archaeology of body art, go to "Ancient Tattoos."

Via: Archaeological Headlines - Archaeology Magazine