Tattooing 3,000 Years Ago Was Done With Volcanic Glass Tools – Prehistoric Tattoo Artists Used Innovative Tools And Ink For Body Art

Tattoo artists may have used sharp volcanic glass tools for creating body art. Archaeologists claim to have discovered prehistoric tattooing tools, which coupled with natural pigments, allowed ancient body art specialists to carve permanent shapes and figures on human bodies.

Sharp tools, carved from volcanic glass, that are at least 3,000 years old, were most likely used for tattooing in the South Pacific during the ancient times, claims a new study that used comparative techniques to make the correlation, reported Live Science. The relatively razor-sharp tools that can easily pierce the skin could offer newer insights into the fine art of tattooing in the prehistoric times. These tools hold special significance primarily because the works of art, i.e. the humans, don’t exist. Moreover, tattooed human remains are extremely rare owing to the fragility of the human body and the art of mummification being reserved only for royalty and high priests.

The research has been detailed in the August issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The art of tattooing isn’t new. According to Fox News, researchers have found tattoos that are at least 5,000 years old on a mummy discovered in the Alps. While the relatively low oxygen and moisture content in the frigid Alps helped preserve the skin of the mummy, finding such extremely well-preserved human remains is next to impossible. This makes it difficult to chronicle the ancient history of tattooing.

The only viable way to learn about prehistoric tattooing practices is to discover and then study the tools that were used by the ancient people to decorate the human body with permanent art. However, finding these tools isn’t easy as well. Archaeologists have stumbled upon very few ancient tattooing implements, said study co-author Robin Torrence, an archaeologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney.

He shared that the tools were hard to find or even identify, probably because a lot of perishable materials were used to make the tattooing tools. Most likely, tattoo artists preferred softer materials that decomposed easily to ensure they did as little harm or injury to the human who wanted body art. Needless to add, prehistoric tattooing was quite crude, and the artists didn’t have specialized tools like sharp needles that offer precise control. Back then, getting a tattoo was certainly a more painful process.

To understand the prehistoric process, scientists analyzed 15 obsidian artifacts recovered from the Nanggu site in the Solomon Islands. Obsidian is essentially a very dark form of glass that forms when lava cools. As with any glass, the volcanic variety is quite brittle, but it is available in large chunks. The makers of the tattoo tools reshaped the volcanic glass by chipping away the flakes so that each tool had a sharp point on its edge.

To confirm they had discovered prehistoric tattoo tools, researchers compared them with those used in the experiments. They discovered similar signs of wear and tear, such as microscopic chipping, rounding and blunting of the edges, and thin scratches on both the set of tools. Scientists also discovered traces of blood, charcoal, and ochre on the Nanggu artifacts, reported Ancient Origins.

How did the ancient tattoo artists create body art? The obsidian tools were used to carefully break the surface of the human skin. Thereafter, pigments, crafted from naturally occurring substances, were slowly embedded. The wound was then covered with healing herbs to lock in the pigment. Scientists replicated these methods on pigskin, using black charcoal pigment and red ochre dye. They recreated tools out of volcanic glass and copied the shape and size of the ancient artifacts.

Obsidian tools were once quite common across the world. During ancient times, these volcanic glass tools were used in blood-letting rituals conducted in Mesoamerica.

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