In the worldview of ancient people, tattoos are a symbol of power, have healing effects, magic, or reflect the natural world.
According to Ancient Origins, depending on the time and culture, tattoos on the body are considered lowly, barbaric or royal status. Ancient tattoos are usually painted with dyes, soot, plant materials. Scientists find tattoos on many mummies that exist today.
The ötzi people
One of the most famous natural mummies with tattoos is the tatkuink clothing ötzi tattoo. This is a frozen mummy discovered on the Alps mountain range between Italy and Austria in 1991. The mummy dates to about 3,300 BC.
Scientists believe that dark tattoos on the ötzi people serving the purposes of healing, similar to the acupuncture treatment method in Asia appeared 2,000 years later.
"The distribution of tattoos is dots, punctuation under the waist, right knee and ankle joints corresponding to the degenerative areas. This shows that the ancient people use the tattoo tattoo To relieve joint pain, "Joann Fletcher, an archaeologist at York University, UK, commented.
Siberian virgin and scythia warrior
"Virgin Siberia" or "Princess Ukok" is the mummy of a young girl found in 1993 in Altai, near the common border of Russia, Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan. This girl is a magician or spiritual leader of the Pazyryk nomadic people from 2,500 years ago.
The mummy "Princess Ukok" has the best ancient tattoos preserved. Photo: Newscom.
To show power, Princess Ukok tattooed on the splendid image of the lion, sheep, deer with large horns, even mythical creatures like winged leopard. Many people believe that the tattoo on the mummy is very modern, close to today's tattoo models.
Princess Ukok was buried with Scythia warriors and 6 horses. On the body of a warrior, there are many animal tattoos and winding lines, diverse colors, highly expressive.
"Compared to all tattoos that archaeologists find around the grim reaper world, the tattoo on the mummy of the Pazyryk is the most complex and most beautiful," Natalia Polosmak, archaeologist discovered the mummy of Princess Ukok. , said.
High lady mummy
In 2005, archaeologists discovered the mummy of a woman at the burial room deep inside the sacrifices of the ancient Peruvian in Trujillo, Peru. The mummy dating back from 450 was named Lady Cao.
The burial room has gold decorations and symbols showing power. This shows that this woman had a high status in society at that time, maybe an ancient female magician.