|
A
male mummy was found to have tattoos depicting a wild bull and a
Barbary sheep on its upper arm, while a female has linear and
S-shaped motifs on its upper arm and shoulder.
The artworks appeared as dark smudges in natural light but
researchers at the British Museum and Oxford University's
Faculty of Oriental Studies found the tattoos in 2017 with
infrared photography.
"It's actually providing completely new insights into the use of
tattooing," Daniel Antoine, curator of physical anthropology at
the British Museum, told Reuters.
"The location of these tattoos suggests they were designed to be
highly visible on the upper arm and the shoulder," he said,
adding that the discoveries push back by 1,000 years evidence
for tattooing in Africa.
The mummies were unearthed 100 years ago in the Egyptian town of
Gebelein, around 40 km (24 miles) south of modern-day Luxor.
They date to 3351 to 3017 BC, which is the Predynatic period
before Egypt was unified by the first Pharaoh.
Researchers said the female tattoos may have denoted status,
bravery or magical knowledge, while the male's were likely
symbols of virility and strength.
Prior to the discovery, archaeologists believed tattooing in
Egypt was only performed on women, as tattoos were only depicted
on female figurines of the period.
The oldest surviving tattoos are geometric designs on a
mummified corpse known as Otzi, who lived around 5,300 years ago
and was discovered preserved in the Italian Alps in 1991.
The research, lead by Antoine and Oxford University's Renee
Friedman, was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science
on March 1.
(Reporting by David Doyle; Writing by Mark Hanrahan; Editing by
Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
