An international team of archaeologists, historians, and tattoo artists has concluded that Ötzi the Iceman’s tattoos were most likely created using a single-pointed tool via hand-poking. Their findings were published in the European Journal of Archaeology.
Discovered in the Italian Alps in 1991, Ötzi is believed to have lived approximately 5,300 years ago. Examination of his remains revealed numerous tattoos on his lower back, abdomen, lower legs, and left wrist. Researchers have long sought to determine the method used to create these tattoos.
Previous research had proposed four possible techniques: hand poking, subdermal tattooing, hand tapping, and incision. However, due to the presence of short, straight lines in many of Ötzi’s tattoos, incision—involving the creation of an incision in the skin with a sharpened object—had been considered a strong possibility.
Seeking more conclusive evidence, the research team enlisted the help of a tattoo artist who volunteered to receive multiple tattoos on his leg using each of the four techniques. Once the tattoos had healed, the researchers captured close-up images and compared them to Ötzi’s tattoos.
Their analysis revealed that the tattoos created using the hand-poking method most closely resembled Ötzi’s. Hand-poking involves sharpening the end of a stick to a point, dipping it in ink, and then pushing it into the skin, leaving a small deposit of ink with each prick. Multiple pricks are required to create a line, resulting in a series of tiny, overlapping disks—a pattern observed in both the experimental tattoos and Ötzi’s tattoos.
The researchers’ findings suggest that Ötzi’s tattoos were likely created using a single-pointed tool via hand-poking, providing valuable insights into the tattooing practices of ancient peoples.