9781422273845

A series of "S" shapes can be seen on the ancient Egyptian female Gebelein mummy.

Women in ancient Egypt often got tattoos—markings have been found on mummies themselves, and they are also depicted in Egyptian art. Archaeologists have also found what appears to be tattooing tools that date back to 3,000 BCE. In Egyptian culture, tattooing was considered a female-only activity. Like Ötzi’s tattoos, at least some of the women’s tattoos were likely motivated by health concerns. The scholar Joann Fletcher argues that the placement and designs of some ancient Egyptian tattoos suggest they might have been intended to protect women from the risks of childbirth or from sexually transmitted diseases. On the other hand, some elite tattooed women were probably priestesses, and they tattooed images on themselves to demonstrate their high status. Other ancient cultures also practiced tattooing. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that tattoos were “a mark of nobility” among the Scythian people of what is now southern

Tattooing and Scarification

11