Mystery tattoo on Egyptian mummies

‘Valley of Kings’, one of the most important archaeological treasures in Egypt, where the dead are buried, is world famous for its many unearthed mummies and artifacts.

Tattoos discovered on mummies. Recently, through studying mummies at this site, scientists have discovered that ancient Egyptians also tattooed and they are looking for the meaning of those tattoos. Tattoo marks under infrared rays Artisans and workers during the construction of the “Valley of Kings” made their home in a site called Deir el Medina. Here, many tombs and many other artifacts were excavated and revealed many mysteries. In 2014, archaeologist Anne Austin, of the University of Missouri – St.. Louis, USA, and colleagues at the French Institute of Oriental Archeology have studied 3,000-year-old mummies and have made interesting findings. While examining the mummies with infrared light, they found on the seven bodies there were many large tattoos that had never been seen before. The effects of time made the mummy’s skin discolor and darken, but the tattoo marks were still quite visible under infrared light. Through analysis, experts find that these tattoos have many complex details. One of the mummies mentioned above has more than 30 tattoos on the neck, arms, shoulders and back, including symbols, Egyptian hieroglyphs, scarabs, lotus flowers, Horus eyes, and patterns. crosses, and strange motifs. On another mummy, the mark clearly depicts baboons, along with other animals such as cobras and cows. All tattoos have sacred meanings. For example, the bull tattoo is associated with the goddess Hathor, one of the most important deities of ancient Egypt, the embodiment of joy, love, and maternal love, often depicted as a woman. has a bull head and ears. All of the mummies have tattoos of various motifs, with the same tattoo technique as today, with ink and needle tools. What is the purpose? Scientist Anne Austin is working on ancient Egyptian mummies. The purpose of tattooing for the ancient Egyptians is still unknown. Many theories suggest that tattoos are related to fertility, a person’s status, a ritual symbol, a sign of worship, paranormal knowledge, or a representation of a person’s role. priestess. Interestingly, most tattooed Egyptian mummies found to date have been female, suggesting that the tattoo could have been reserved for healers or mighty nuns. Notably, the tattoos are all over the body areas that are not covered. Horus’s eyes were placed on his neck, shoulders and back so that when people looked at this woman from any angle, they would see god’s eyes looking back at them. These findings contradict some previous Egyptian studies that deny women practicing religion. They are seen as objects of lust, or only passively participate in the male-dominated religious system. The characterization of new tattoos on mummies points to the fact that the role of women in religion in ancient Egypt was more complex than previous assumptions about their identity. Although tattoo designs are mostly only available to women, at least one male with the tattoo was discovered using similar Austin’s technique. This male mummy, simply called “Gebelein Man A”, has been on display at the British Museum for more than a century, has markings on its arms that have long been believed to be stains and ignored. In 2018, Daniel Antoine, a British Museum anthropologist using Austin’s technique on the mummy, discovered the traces were actually tattoos of a wild gaur and a Barbary sheep. , is said to represent status, power and masculine solidity. A female mummy on display was also found tattooed with S-shaped symbols that had never been noticed before. Both sets of tattoos are also important as the above mummies are even older than the ones found at Deir el Medina, more than 5,000 years ago, the period before the Egyptian hieroglyphs were used. . The bodies of these two were buried in ordinary graves but naturally preserved by the heat, arid desert. With these new findings, it is thought that tattoos were probably more widespread in Ancient Egypt than previously thought. The use of infrared imaging techniques to re-examine Egyptian mummies is an effective way to learn more about this custom and gain insight into mysterious people. Austin hopes it will shed some light on this dim area of ​​history. “The tattoos reveal new information that was unprecedented in the textual documents, helping us to better understand the role of women in ancient Egypt,” she said. However, many questions remain, such as: Why did the ancient Egyptians get tattoos and what do they really mean? What do tattoos tell us about this ancient civilization? Hope the time will clear up these mysteries ”.