Innovation No. 47 of 77 in the book
Protective Tattoos
Tattooed skin preserved on Predynastic mummies, worn mostly by women for protection
- When
- c. 3350 BCE
- Dynasty
- None (before the dynasties)
- Era
- Predynastic Period
The oldest tattooed skin ever discovered belongs to two Predynastic Egyptian mummies from Gebelein, buried around 3350 BCE, centuries before the pharaohs.
Infrared imaging revealed the ink: a wild bull and a Barbary sheep across a man’s shoulder, and geometric motifs on a woman. The tradition was not exclusively female at its origin, but it soon became one.
By the Middle Kingdom, tattooing evolved into a practice worn almost entirely by women. Inked nets across the abdomen and figures of the protective god Bes on the thighs guarded mothers through the perils of pregnancy and childbirth.
Permanent ink as personal protection — body art worn as an amulet — began on the Nile.
Two naturally mummified bodies from Gebelein, buried around 3350 BCE and held in the British Museum, are the oldest tattooed human skin found anywhere. Infrared imaging published in 2018 revealed what a century of looking had missed: a wild bull and a Barbary sheep across one shoulder, and on the other body a row of S-shaped motifs with a curved line read as a throwing stick. One of the two is a man.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Egyptian tattooing only for women?
Not at the start — one of the two Gebelein bodies is male, and neither set of marks is obviously about childbirth. The tradition became overwhelmingly female later, and that later record is the better-known one.
Were tattooed women low-status?
No, though nineteenth-century excavators assumed so and labelled them concubines. Modern analysis overturned that: Amunet, among the most heavily tattooed, held the prestigious title of Priestess of Hathor.