Tattoos are probably almost as old as mankind.
This tends to leave trapped pigment in the dermis, such accidents are by the way the major reason for pigment removal research even in our days. Carbon dating and arte facts found near him suggest that he is over 5,300 years old. The skin bears a cross behind one knee and a series of lines above his kidneys. The tattoos were applied by puncture with a needle or other sharp instrument steeped in pigment, much like the prisoner tattoos of later times. From Southern China the practice spread along the silk route.