2,500-year-old Siberian 'ice mummy' had intricate tattoos

Georgina rangard

Science correspondent

Details of animals and birds on her arms and hands were revealed by the scan of ice mummy’s skin.

Zee Kaspri and M Vavulin from the scan of an image of snow mummy. It has a purple color, and shows the woman's arm. There is a ink pattern showing line and dots on the skin. A cut mark is also seen in the skin from burial. — Details of animals and birds on her arms and hands were revealed by the scan of ice mummy’s skin.

According to the researchers, the high-resolution imaging of the tattoo found on a 2,500-year-old Siberian “ice mummy” has revealed the decoration that it would seem challenging to produce a modern tattooist.

Complex tattoos of leopards, a corpus, a cock, and a mythical half-shaker and a half-eagle on a woman’s body on an ancient warrior culture.

Archaeologists worked with a tattoo, which reproduces the decoration of ancient skin on their body, to understand how they were actually made.

The woman with a tattoo, Pyjariyak, who riding a curved horse of about 50 years of age, lived on a huge step between China and Europe.

A depiction of the tattoo on the woman’s right front of the woman manifested in the new scan

Daniel Ride woman depiction of a black line of tattoos on the right cell of the woman. It shows two tigers and a leopard surrounding a stag with horns and looks like wings. — A depiction of the tattoo on the woman’s right front of the woman manifested in the new scan

The scan showed that “complex crisp and uniform” tattoos that could not be seen with naked eyes.

Dr. Max Planck Institute of Jioantropology and Burn University, Dr. Dr. Gino Kaspie said, “Insights really run a house for me how sophisticated these people were.”

Detailed information about ancient social and cultural practices is difficult to highlight because most of the evidences are destroyed over time. Getting closer to a person’s life description is even more difficult.

In the 19th century, pages “ice mummies” were found inside the snow tombs in the Altai mountain in Siberia, but it has become difficult to see the tattoo.

A depiction of tattoos appeared in a new scan on the woman’s left front

Daniel read a black line of tattoos on the left front of the woman. It shows a large harmony with horns, and a half lion and half-anal creature appears to attack the barean. — A depiction of tattoos appeared in a new scan on the woman’s left front

Now, using near-creating digital photography at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia’s experts have first created a high resolution scan of decoration.

“It seemed to me that we were very close to see the people behind the art, how they worked and learned. The images were alive,” Dr. Kaspari said.

On her right forecast, the Pazyryk woman had an image of leopard around the head of the deer.

Pazyryk was a nomadic group that lived in Altai Mountains

A herd images of sheep grazing in the valley of Altai Mountains. The icy mountains in the background, with a green valley in the foreground, and a blue sky with some clouds. It gives the impression of the huge, isolated area. — Pazyryk was a nomadic group that lived in Altai Mountains

On the left arm, a lion’s body is seen fighting with a lion’s body and the head and feathers of an eagle appear to fight with a corpus.

Dr. “Twisted Hind body and really intensive war visual culture of wild animals are distinctive to culture,” said Kaspie.

But the woman also had a cock on her thumb, which shows “a complicated style with a certain specificity,” Dr. Kaspi says.

The team worked with researcher Daniel Ride, which reproduces ancient tattoo designs on their body using historical methods.

Daniel Rid uses pre-electric methods to make ancient decoration tattoo on its skin

Daniel Rid shows some bare skin with a picture of a picture blue and black ink. Some are full. Two hands with latex gloves are at the top of the skin. There is a tattoo needle above the skin in one hand. — Daniel Rid uses pre-electric methods to make ancient decoration tattoo on its skin

A ‘concrete commitment’

His insight on the scan inspired him to conclude that the quality of work vary between two arms, suggesting that a separate person had made a tattoo or made mistakes.

“If I was guessing, it was probably four and half an hour for the lower half of the right hand, and there was another five hours for the upper part,” they say.

“This is a solid commitment to the person. Imagine sitting on the ground in the step where the wind is blowing,” he suggests.

“This should be done by a person who knows health and safety, who knows what happens when the skin is punctured, it knows its risks,” they say.

High-resolution scan and woman’s skin pictures give insight into tattoo method

A table of three images from a woman's body's high-resolution scan with a purple color. Three images show parts of the skin and are tattoos that show the woman's tattoo with across the skin. They show different marks made by different devices. — High-resolution scan and woman’s skin pictures give insight into tattoo method

By analyzing scars in the woman’s skin, the team believes that the tattoo was probably stained on the skin before tattoo.

They feel that a needle -like device was used with several small points made from the animal horn or bone, as well as a single point needle. The pigment was made from the material or soot of the burnt plant.

Dr. Kaspari, who does not have tattoos himself, says that the work throws light on an ancient practice which is very important for many people around the world today.

Woman’s thumb and depiction of tattoos on fingers

Daniel Ride depiction of a black line of tatos on the woman's thumbs and fingers. An image is a cock, which has a wing tail and an outstracked neck and beak. There are two other pictures with round loops similar to arrows. — Woman’s thumb and depiction of tattoos on fingers

“And during the day it was already a really professional practice where people have done a lot of time and effort and practice in creating these images and they are extremely sophisticated,” they say.

When the body was designed to bury, some tattoos are cut or damaged.

“It suggests that the tattoo was actually something to live with meaning during life, but that they did not actually play a role later,” Dr. Kasper says.

The findings have been published in the magazine ancient.