Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Tattooing, the practice of inscribing drawings or symbols on human skin, was also common in ancient times. But new implications have now emerged after the discovery of inks uncommon at the time and previously unseen figures on the body of an 800-year-old Andean mummy.
A team from the National University of San Marcos (Peru) examined the mummified body of a woman, which arrived approximately a century ago at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the University of Turin, Italy, after being found in a remote corner of the Andean country.
According to a study published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, the mummy has unusual facial tattoos that reflect a type of body art unknown at the time.
Magnetite, an iron oxide mineral, was used as ink, the use of which was previously unknown. In most cases of tattooed mummies in South America, charcoal was found as the only pigment.
This time, the body also features an S-shaped design on the right wrist, which is unique in the Andean region as a tattoo.
On the other hand, the mummy is remarkably well preserved. This is another rarity; as soft tissues generally degrade. Experts believe it was probably preserved naturally.
Among the theories about the symbols' meaning, they speculate on a decorative or communicative purpose. Meanwhile, the interdisciplinary group at San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, has urged compositional analysis of tattoo pigments on other mummies, to uncover more revelations and also more secrets. (Text and photo: RT)
