What were ancient tattoos pigments made of?
Semi-thin section samples were taken from the mummy's skin for light microscopic analyses and electron diffraction. Under the microscope, the tattooed skin samples from the mummy's hand and arm contained small round particles which were made up of even smaller fine particles of carbon. With carbon being the most predominant element of the black pigment, soot was likely used for the mummy's decorative designs.
The most intriguing results were yielded from skin samples taken from the mummy's neck where her asymmetrical circle tattoos were located. The structures shown under the microscope were considerably larger, various shapes with dark boarders; containing elements such as carbon, oxygen, calcium, nitrogen, potassium and small amounts of sodium and sulfur. With oxygen more prominent within the center of the structures as well as the absence of sulfur on their surface, indicating that it was burned organic substance. The researchers concluded that the neck tattoos' pigment consisted of charcoal and ashes from plant materials. What's the significance of this? The use of different materials for the mummy's two distinct variations of tattoo designs show they had separate purpose or significance. This supports the archaeologists' hypothesis that the Chiribaya woman's neck tattoos could have likely had a therapeutic use such a acupuncture. Surprisingly the placement of the circles actually closely align with Chinese acupuncture points. There has been vast amounts of evidence for therapeutic tattoo methods similar acupuncture throughout Asia and Europe in antiquity. With the Chiribaya woman being from Peru, on a continent completely separated from Eurasia by oceans, it raises question as to how long humans have had this type of medicinal knowledge. The earliest evidence being preserved on 5,000 year old Tyrolean Iceman's skin; 58 small dots, lines, and X's were placed on numerous joints that were found to be arthritic during autopsy. His lifetime was long after the flooding of the Beringia Strait, the land bridge in which populations from Asia migrated over and into the Americas. The Chiribaya woman being a long descendant from those people, was this medicinal knowledge passed down through generations or did ancient South American cultures such as her's devise it themselves? References:
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