{"id":19887,"date":"2025-01-13T19:44:28","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T20:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=19887"},"modified":"2025-01-13T21:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T21:26:07","slug":"peruvian-mummies-ancient-tattoos-come-under-laser-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=19887","title":{"rendered":"Peruvian Mummies\u2019 Ancient Tattoos Come Under Laser Focus"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

With a tool often used in the study of dinosaur fossils, scientists uncovered new details in ornate tattoos on the skin of members of the Chancay culture of Peru.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

A culture flourished along the central Peruvian coast from about A.D. 900 to 1500. Called the Chancay, they left behind a wealth of cultural remains, including intricate tattoos that are preserved to this day on the skin of mummified individuals.<\/p>\n

New details of these tattoos that were previously hidden to the naked eye, including finely traced lines, were described in a study published on Monday<\/a>. After illuminating the mummies with laser-stimulated fluorescence, or L.S.F., an imaging tool that until now had never been applied to tattoos, scientists discovered lines 0.1 to 0.2 millimeters wide, narrower than work produced by most modern tattoo needles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were shocked by just how fine the tattoo lines were in our L.S.F. images,\u201d said Michael Pittman, an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an author of the new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in an email. \u201cWe immediately knew that what we were seeing was special.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mummies featured in the new study had been buried at the Cerro Colorado cemetery, and were rediscovered in 1981. Their tattoos are roughly 1,000 years old and display ornate geometric designs, reminiscent of scales or vines, as well as an amorphous animal with a curled tail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The Chancay have long been known for high levels of craftsmanship across their material culture, and left elaborate markings in far more than their tattoos, said Aaron Deter-Wolf, a prehistoric archaeologist at the Tennessee Division of Archaeology who specializes in ancient tattoos and was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
A mummy\u2019s fingers under L.S.F. …<\/span>Michael Pittman and Thomas G. Kaye<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
… and under white light.<\/span>Michael Pittman and Thomas G. Kaye<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a tool often used in the study of dinosaur fossils, scientists uncovered new details in ornate tattoos on the skin of members of the Chancay culture of Peru.A culture flourished along the central Peruvian coast from about A.D. 900 to 1500. Called the Chancay, they left behind a wealth of cultural remains, including intricate tattoos that are preserved to this day on the skin of mummified individuals.New details of these tattoos that were previously hidden to the naked eye, including finely traced lines, were described in a study published on Monday. After illuminating the mummies with laser-stimulated fluorescence, or L.S.F., an imaging tool that until now had never been applied to tattoos, scientists discovered lines 0.1 to 0.2 millimeters wide, narrower than work produced by most modern tattoo needles.\u201cWe were shocked by just how fine the tattoo lines were in our L.S.F. images,\u201d said Michael Pittman, an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an author of the new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in an email. \u201cWe immediately knew that what we were seeing was special.\u201dThe mummies featured in the new study had been buried at the Cerro Colorado cemetery, and were rediscovered in 1981. Their tattoos are roughly 1,000 years old and display ornate geometric designs, reminiscent of scales or vines, as well as an amorphous animal with a curled tail.The Chancay have long been known for high levels of craftsmanship across their material culture, and left elaborate markings in far more than their tattoos, said Aaron Deter-Wolf, a prehistoric archaeologist at the Tennessee Division of Archaeology who specializes in ancient tattoos and was not involved in the study.A mummy\u2019s fingers under L.S.F. …Michael Pittman and Thomas G. Kaye… and under white light.Michael Pittman and Thomas G. KayeWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19889,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19887"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19890,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19887\/revisions\/19890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}