Ancient acupuncture

[Guest guest]

Oetzi Iceman's Tattoos Came from Fireplace

Discovery News, July 17, 2009

 

The 57 tattoos sported by Oetzi, the 5300-year-old Tyrolean iceman

mummy, were made from fireplace soot that contained glittering, colorful

precious stone crystals, according to an upcoming study in the Journal

of Archaeological Science. The determination supports prior research

that the tattoos were associated with acupuncture treatments for chronic

ailments suffered by the iceman, whose frozen body was found remarkably

well preserved in the Similaun Glacier of the Alps in 1991. The findings

also suggest how prehistoric people were tattooed in the days before

commercial inks and electric tattooing machines. " I can imagine that

they used some pointed material, maybe thorns, and dipped it into the

soot and then pierced into the skin, or made scars and put the soot into

the wound after insertion, allowing the wound to heal so that the

colored material stayed there, " lead author Maria Anna Pabst told

Discovery News.

 

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/17/iceman-tattoos.html