Editing Tattoo (section)

=== Egypt and Sudan ===
The earliest figural tattoos were identified on the [[Mummy|naturally mummified]] human remains of a male buried within a shallow grave from Gebelein in upper [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], and [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to around 3351-3017 BC.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Renée  |date=2018 |title=Natural Mummies from Predynastic Egypt Reveal the World's Earliest Figural Tattoos |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=92 |pages=116–125 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2018.02.002  |bibcode=2018JArSc..92..116F  |url=https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/8a368c3c-d138-4a04-a203-fef01b8ed673  |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> The male mummy, named the “Gebelein man”, had two overlapping tattoos on his right forearm, one depicting a [[Bovinae|bovine]], and the other depicting another horned animal, perhaps a [[barbary sheep]] or another bovine.<ref name=":4" /> The Gebelein man was approximately 18–21 years of age when he died, suggesting that he received his tattoos at an early age.

The cultures of Ancient Egypt and Ancient [[Nubia]], located in modern-day [[Sudan]], while diverse and multifaceted within their own rights, often have roots in a shared cultural heritage such as the tradition of tattooing.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Tassie |first=Geoffrey |date=2003 |title=Identifying the Practice of Tattooing in Ancient Egypt and Nubia |journal=Papers from the Institute of Archaeology |volume=14 |pages=85–101|doi=10.5334/pia.200 |doi-access=free }}</ref> While the Gebelein man was buried in Egypt, most discoveries of tattooed individuals from this region are from Ancient Nubia. In Nubia, the earliest identified human remains with tattoos are dated to the C-Group period, which lasted from 2345 to 1500 BC and contemporaneous with the First Intermediate period through the Second Intermediate period in Ancient Egypt.<ref name=":5" /> During this C-Group period, only women have been found with tattoos, suggesting that tattooing was gendered at this time.<ref name=":5" /> Tattoos of this period usually consist of dotted patterns and lines, and typically were located on the abdomen, chest, arms or legs.<ref name=":5" />

By 500 BC, there is evidence of tattooing on men in Ancient Nubia, typically on the hands or arms, and rarely on the face.<ref name=":5" /> There is also more evidence of figural tattooing around this period, typically found on female human remains. These figural tattoos encompassed a wide variety of images, such as abstract chains of “sss” or depictions of gods and goddesses.<ref name=":4" /> In Nubia, a female mummy from [[Temple of Aksha|Aksha]] dated to the 4th century BC contains a tattoo of the [[Ancient Egyptian deities|Egyptian deity]] Bes on her thigh.<ref name=":5" /> [[Bes]], a dwarfed god, is often associated with fertility and childbirth, and was a popular image tattooed onto women both in Egypt and Nubia, as seen in both [[Iconography|iconographic]] examples, such as tomb paintings, and on human remains.<ref name=":5" />

No ancient tattoo instruments or tools have been confidently identified at [[archaeological excavation]]s in either Egypt or Sudan, due to the perishable nature of the tools and their possibility for misidentification. However, tattoos during this period were created with metal needles or awls, tools typically associated with the work of domestic women.<ref name=":5" />