The Earliest Tattoos

• For a long time, the earliest tattoos were thought to be on female mummies dating to c.2000 B.C. But now it is believed the Iceman, discovered on the Italian-Austrian border in 1991, has the earliest known tattoos. He was carbon-dated at around 5,200 years old, according to Joann Fletcher, research fellow in the department of archaeology at the University of York in Britain on smithsonian.com.
  
  

The Purpose

• Fletcher says she believes tattoos on ancient Egyptian women were meant to safeguard the female during pregnancy and labor. The placement of the tattoos --on the abdomen, the breasts and the top of the thighs--could signify the custom of tattoos only on females.
  
  

The Tattooer

• Though Fletcher says there is no written evidence of who did the tattooing, it seems that older women would mark the younger ones.
  
  

The Instruments

• Archaeologist W.M.F. Petrie discovered a sharp point in a wooden handle that dates to c. 3000 B.C. at the site of Abydos. These could have been used to create tattoos. In addition, he found a set of small bronze instruments at a different site. These dated to c. 1450 B.C. and were thought to be grouped together to form a uniform set of dots.
  
  

Patterns

• The mummies mostly had dotted patterns of lines and diamonds, though some showed more naturalistic images.
  
  

Colors

• Mostly dark or black pigments were used in the earliest tattoos.