deCIPHER // Ancient Egyptian Tattooing | Part I

The Gebelein Mummies of Ancient Egypt (Kemet) are the oldest found in Africa so far. Their tattoos are still visible and well preserved owing to Kemet’s intricate mummification process. Several gendered female and male mummies were found, dating from the Predynastic Period (6000-3150 B.C.) to the New Kingdom (1550-1069 B.C.). All are permanently adorned with the Kemetic pictographic language given the Greek name, hieroglyph (hiero- "holy/sacred" and -glyph "carving/to note/hollow out"). Despite its most common use on temples, monuments, and papyrus--"hieroglyph,&q