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From a 1000-year-old mummy, found unwrapped in the sand of the desert at Chiribaya Alta in Southern Peru, two different kinds of tattoos were investigated: decorative tattoos displaying different animals and symbolic ciphers were present on the extremities and tattooed circles on the neck region.

We employed molecular cytogenetic means to determine that the mummy was female.

The tattoos were investigated by light microscopy, various electron microscopic methods and by Raman spectroscopy.

According to electron microscopic analyses the material for the decorative tattoos consisted of aggregates of small round particles with a diameter of some 10 nm as seen by transmission electron microscopy. EEL-spectra reveal mainly carbon. From the fine structure of the spectra it can be assumed that the particles are soot. The dying particles from the neck region however are much larger, showing irregular shapes and sizes. Electron diffraction investigation and Raman spectrometry indicate their organic origin. As these particles show more oxygen and sulfur in the center than in their darker stained border with EDXS, and only weak peaks of carbon with Raman spectrometry, it can be assumed that the tattoo material was probably partially pyrolyzed plant material. This is the first time that two different kinds of tattooing materials were found in one and the same mummy.

The tattoos on the neck region could have had a therapeutic, ritual or protective intention. A possible therapeutic origin may lie in the fact that the circles on the neck lie close to acupuncture points, having a relaxing and pain-relieving effect in the neck and head region. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.