Laser scans reveal secrets of mysterious tattoos on 1,200-year-old mummies - Study expands understanding of artistic development in pre-Hispanic South America ...

which expands the degree of artistic development found in South America at this time,” they write. Scientists hope the new technique could lead to improved analysis of tattoos on mummies from ...

Tattoos were a prevalent art form in pre-Hispanic South America, as attested by the discovery ... and bleed over time—a process compounded in mummies by the decay of the body.

The intricate details of tattoos inked more than 1200 years ago have been made visible by scanning South American mummies with lasers. The mummies, belonging to a pre-Hispanic people known as the ...

The preserved skin of the mummies shone brightly with the lasers ... They wrote: 'Tattoos were a prevalent art form in pre-Hispanic South America exemplified by mummified human remains with ...

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 ...

In a new study, researchers used lasers to uncover highly intricate designs of ancient tattoos on mummies from Peru. The preserved skin of the mummies and the black tattoo ink used show a stark ...