World’s oldest tattooing tools are 2,700 years old: Australian National University

Canberra: Australian researchers on Tuesday revealed that the world’s oldest tattooing kit, which was found decades ago in Tonga, dates back 2,700 years and some were made of human bones.

The researchers believe that two of these four tools were made of human bones and the other two with skeletal remains of birds, Efe news quoted a statement from the Australian National University (ANU) here as saying. “These bone tattoo combs are a very specific type of technology found across Oceania,” said Geoffrey Clark, ANU expert, referring to the tools used to make the linear designs of Polynesian tattoos.

The researchers also highlights that the confirmation of its age places these tools in the era in which the cultures of Polynesia emerged and helps answer the question about the origin of tattoos.

The shape of the intricate, multi-toothed tattooing tools seems to have changed very little in these almost 3,000 years since the traditional equipment to make tattoos now is similar to those used in the past, according to the research published in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. (IANS)

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