Weird History

The Gebelein Man, An Ancient Tattooed Murder Victim (2023x133)

: 26, 2023

Gebelein Man is part of the huge mummy collection on display at the British Museum in London. His story is quite different from the Egyptian mummies you might be picturing, though. Gebelein Man, along with his contemporary, Gebelein Woman, sports the world's oldest known figural tattoos. The Gebelein mummies were accidentally preserved by their environment, as opposed to the careful preparation later Egyptian mummies underwent. Many other cases of accidental or environmental mummification have been discovered around the world, from Juanita the Ice Maiden and her fellow Incan child sacrifices, to Ötzi the Iceman.