Ink-redible! Laser technology unveils intricate tattoos on 1,200-year-old Peruvian mummies; see pictures

Modern tattoo enthusiasts with access to numbing creams and electric machines might not appreciate the painstaking effort that went into body art centuries ago. But researchers have now uncovered a glimpse of this ancient artistry by revealing intricate tattoos on 1,200-year-old Peruvian mummies, created using cactus needle spikes and sharpened animal bones.

A team from the Chinese University of Hong Kong utilized advanced laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) technology to examine the preserved remains of individuals from the Chancay culture, a pre-Hispanic civilization known for its mass production of ceramics, textiles, and metals around 900 CE. They analyzed over 100 mummies, finding that the preserved skin fluoresced under lasers, offering high-contrast images that unveiled hidden tattoo designs.

The tattoos, created with remarkable precision, exceeded the artistic quality of other artifacts from the era, such as pottery and textiles. The designs included exquisite geometric and zoomorphic patterns, with linear details as fine as 0.1 to 0.2 millimeters wide. Researchers concluded that the tattoos were meticulously crafted by hand, likely using pointed tools such as cactus needles or animal bones.

"Tattoos were a prevalent art form in pre-Hispanic South America exemplified by mummified human remains with preserved skin decoration that reflects the personal and cultural representations of their times," researchers wrote in their findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"Tattoos are known to fade and bleed over time and this is compounded in mummies by the decay of the body, inhibiting the ability to examine the original art. Laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) produces images based on fluorescence emitted from within the target," researchers added.

"We find that the preserved skin fluoresced strongly underneath the black tattoo ink yielding a high-contrast image that virtually eliminates the ink bleed, revealing the exceptionally fine details of the original artwork. The level of detail and precision of the artwork was found to be higher than associated pottery, textiles, and rock art suggesting special effort was expended by the Chancay on at least some of their tattoos," they added.

The researchers further said, "The 0.1 to 0.2 mm wide linear details reflect the fact that each ink dot was placed deliberately by hand with great skill, creating a variety of exquisite geometric and zoomorphic patterns. We can assume that this technique involved a pointed object finer than a standard modern tattoo needle, probably a single cactus needle or sharpened animal bone based on known materials available to the artists."

Interestingly, a separate study from the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg, Germany, found that attitudes toward tattoos differ across age groups. People over 50 tend to rate extreme tattoos as less attractive compared to younger generations, likely influenced by traditional stereotypes surrounding body art.