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Modern tattooers meet their ancient match with the ice mummies of Siberia

An international team of archaeologists has used high-resolution digital imaging techniques to examine tattoos on a more than 2,000-year-old ice mummy from the Pazyryk culture of Siberia, shedding light on individual craftsmanship in prehistoric Siberian tattooing for the first time.

Tattooing was likely widespread during prehistory, but the lack of surviving tattoos means it is difficult to investigate. The so-called "ice mummies" of the Altai mountains are an exception, since their deep burial chambers encased in permafrost sometimes preserve the skin (and therefore tattoos) of those buried within.

"The tattoos of the Pazyryk culture- Iron Age pastoralists of the Altai Mountains -have long intrigued archaeologists due to their elaborate figural designs," states senior author of the research, Dr. Gino Caspari from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern.

Despite this, detailed studies of the tattoos are rare, as high-resolution images were not previously available. Therefore, most studies have been based on early schematic drawings of the tattoos.

"Prior scholarship focused primarily on the stylistic and symbolic dimensions of these tattoos, with data derived largely from hand-drawn reconstructions," explains Dr. Caspari. "These interpretations lacked clarity regarding the techniques and tools used and did not focus much on the individuals but rather the overarching social context."

To provide a more accurate means to explore ancient tattooing, archaeologists produced a 3-dimensional scan of one tattooed Pazyryk mummy using newly available sub-millimeter resolution, digital near-infrared photography.

By working with modern tattooers, they examined the tattoos in greater detail than ever before, identifying the individual tools and techniques used to make them. Their results are published in the journal Antiquity.

The researchers found that the tattoos on the right forearm were more detailed and technical than those on the left. This suggests that different tattooers, or the same tattooer during different stages of their development, contributed to the art.

Importantly, this indicates tattooing was not simply a form of decoration to the Pazyryk culture, but rather a skilled craft that required formal training and technical ability.

"The study offers a new way to recognize personal agency in prehistoric body modification practices," says Dr. Caspari. "Tattooing emerges not merely as symbolic decoration but as a specialized craft—one that demanded technical skill, aesthetic sensitivity, and formal training or apprenticeship."

By identifying the individual hands behind ancient tattoos for the first time, the researchers show that prehistoric tattooers in Siberia were not unlike modern professionals today.

"This made me feel like we were much closer to seeing the people behind the art, how they worked and learned and made mistakes," Dr. Caspari concludes. "The images came alive."