High-resolution near-infrared data reveal Pazyryk tattooing methods
Caspari G. Deter-Wolf A. Riday D. Vavulin M. Pankova S.
1 October 2025Cambridge University Press
Antiquity
2025#99Issue 4071267 - 1281 pp.
The tattoos of the Pazyryk ice mummies are of paramount importance for the archaeology of Iron Age Siberia and are often discussed from a broad stylistic and symbolic perspective. However, deeper investigations into this cultural practice were hindered by the inaccessibility of quality data. Here, the authors use high-resolution, near-infrared data in conjunction with experimental evidence to re-examine the tools and techniques employed in Early Iron Age tattooing. The high-quality data allow for the previously unfeasible distinction of artist hands and enable us to put the individual back into the picture of a widespread but rarely preserved prehistoric practice.
Altai , body modification , Iron Age , photogrammetry , Russia , Scythian , tattoo
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Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
Institute of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland
Tennessee Division of Archaeology, Nashville, United States
Ancestral Arts, Les Eyzies de Tayac, France
D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University, Oskemen, Kazakhstan
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russian Federation
Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group
Institute of Archaeological Sciences
Tennessee Division of Archaeology
Ancestral Arts
D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University
The State Hermitage Museum
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