A second mummy also found depicted this same type of line pattern (the dancer). This mummy also had a cicatrix pattern over her lower pubic region. In the figure to the right you can see the various patterns as they are displayed on the body. The various design patterns also appeared on several figurines that date to the Middle Kingdom, these figurines have been labeled the "Brides of Death." The figurines are also associates with the goddess Hathor.
Another mummy found datable to about
2000 B.C. also displayed tattoos on her body resembling that of Amunet and the dancer. Robert Biachi states in his Tattoo in Ancient Egypt that: "Such tattoos created by grouping dots and/or dashes into abstract geometric patterns demonstrate the long duration of tattoo in ancient Nubia, as recent excavations at the Nubian site of Aksha demonstrate. Excavators at Aksha uncovered a number of mummies of both adolescent and adult women with blue (or black-blue) tattoos in precisely the same configurations as those found on the three Egyptian mummies from the Middle Kingdom.
These dot-and-dash patterns have been seen for many years throughout Egypt. Believed that this pattern and skill of tattoo was borrowed from the Nubians, the art of tattoo developed during the Middle Kingdom and flourished beyond.
The evidence to date suggests that this art form was restricted to women only, and usually these women were associated with ritualistic practice. These mummies give us site into how long this art form has been practiced and how their art was displayed. From continent to continent this art form has developed and transformed. Through the Egyptian eyes to other cultures tattoo is something that satisfies various needs and interest.
Copyright ©1998 William Craig Taylor
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