Archaeologists discovered a 3,000-year-old mummified body covered in tattoos and it could've belonge

Archaeologists discovered a 3,000-year-old mummified body covered in tattoos and it could’ve belonged to a magical priestess
Mike McRae, ScienceAlert
Oct. 24, 2018, 3:57 PM



Ancient pyramids in Egypt. Sean Gallup/Getty Images



Four years after a mummified torso decorated with unique tattoos was uncovered in a Luxor tomb, Egyptian authorities have officially confirmed the remains once belonged to a highly respected religious figure who died in her late twenties or early thirties.

The unusual remains represent an early example of complex religious tattoos in ancient Egypt, adding evidence to the hypothesis that such a detailed form of body modification might have turned women into objects of divine or magical ritual.

"Scientific and archaeological studies reveal that it is the mummy of a woman who probably lived between 1300 and 1070 BCE and died when her age ranged between 25 and 34 years," the Supreme Council of Antiquities secretary general Mustafa el Waziri announced last week.

The announcement might be recent, but the torso was discovered at the archaeological site of Deir El-Madina Village on Luxor's west bank by the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology back in 2014, inside a tomb that showed clear signs of ransacking.

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https://www.businessinsider.com/3000-year-old-mummy-covered-tattoos-magical-priestess-2018-10?r=UK&IR=T