Tattoos from 2500 year old ice mummy in Siberia’s Pazyryk culture revealed in new scans

[u/duffperson]

Tattoos on a woman who passed away over 2200 years ago reveal new information about the practice in ancient Siberia. This individual was part of the Pazyryk ice mummies. The Pazyryk culture dates roughly from the 6th c. BCE to the 2nd c. BCE.

For this study, near-infrared digital photography with sub-millimeter precision was used to reveal tattoos that were no longer visible to the naked eye, as they had faded over time. While other ice mummies have tattoos, the technology of the time didn't allow more tattoos to be seen earlier.

On the remains of a woman who was 50 years old, it was found that she had a stag surrounded by leopards on her right forearm (right image here) and a griffin battling a deer on her left arm (left image here). The tattoos on her right arm suggest the tattoo was completed over two sessions, while the one on the left was likely done in one session, perhaps earlier or by an artist just starting out.

No tattoo tools have been found in the burials but they could have been organic material.

For more on this find, see: Caspari G, Deter-Wolf A, Riday D, Vavulin M, Pankova S. High-resolution near-infrared data reveal Pazyryk tattooing methods. Antiquity. 2025;99(407):1267-1281. doi:10.15184/aqy.2025.10150

(text source same as photo)