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World's Oldest Tattoo Written In Soot

ewenc writes "A series of tattoos belonging to Otzi the 5300 year-old Tyrolean Iceman are made of soot, reports New Scientist. Mountain climbers discovered Otzi's mummified body in the Austrian-Italian alps in 1991. What's left of his skin was littered with simple cross and line markings. Electron microscopy and spectroscopy now show that Otzi's tats are made of double-bonded carbon indicative of soot, as well as silicate crystals that probably came from rocks surrounding a fire pit."

6 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. He Later Proclaimed by Master+Moose · · Score: 5, Funny

    .. That he only intended getting three, but there was a language barrier between himself and the tattooist. he would have stopped more marks being made but he later fell asleep during the proceedure

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    . . .gone when the morning comes
  2. Upon further study... by Oscar_Wilde · · Score: 4, Funny

    What's left of his skin was littered with simple cross and line markings.
     
    ... upon closer inspection the scientists determined this to be Chinese writing which says "Forever Protector of Old Ladies". Work to locate the man's Facebook profile and collection of popped collar shirts is continuing.

    Now back to you in the studio, Dave.

  3. Re:And it was... by JustOK · · Score: 2, Funny

    or a neander scrawl

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    rewriting history since 2109
  4. Re:But what about.... by JustOK · · Score: 2, Funny

    and the Iceman probably had frosty piss

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    rewriting history since 2109
  5. Re:But what about.... by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 3, Funny

    @05:15PM (#2049871) I agree, that really boiled my blood. I saw the new layout this morning, I thought it was pretty damn cool looking.

    Anthropolgists will wonder what he was replying to for ages...

    One would assume initially he's being unsettled by the new layout as he elaborates further on it, appearantly referencing to the first sentence.

    But after closer analysis (reading it twice), the elaboration is a contradiction if he's speaking in a figurative speech. ("that boiled my blood; I thought it was damn cool looking.") unless, back in 1999, the boiling of blood would be a favourative state of being that is "cool".

    To me, it seems the boiling of his blood is thus to be taken literally and the article could be about a DIY-project which could result in blood being boiled due to possible high pressure, dating back to prerecorded history.

    I think it's safe to assume that the first poster on slashdot forgot to build his own pressure-suit making his blood boil and so agreeing with a poster who made the notion to take this into account. A pressure-suit of his time would be important to be though of attempting a simular endeavour which is communicated in the collaborative context, while expressing out his appreciation for the new environment which started the historical record for slashdot.

    I propose the honouring of "Anonymous Coward" and to make a historical figure out of him. (record shows, in 1999, female presence was neglectable and the often found '18/F' notion was not, as priorly assumed, an indication of age and sex. So the assumpsion "Anonymous Coward" was a male has a 99% probability.)

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    I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
  6. Re:Accidently tattooed myself by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Funny

    when I was a kid, I accidentally tattooed myself

    I understand.

    I once accidentally tattooed the faces of all the members of Flock of Seagulls across my back.

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    You are welcome on my lawn.