Tattoos have a history going back thousands of years, and very possibly tens of thousands. The earliest absolute evidence of tattoos is from the skin of a famous mummy who came to be known as Otzi. Otzi is a mummy who was found trapped in the glacial ice of the Alps in the early 1990s. Originally thought to be someone who died relatively recently, after further examination, he was found to be over 5000 years old. Among the many interesting things scientists learned about Otzi is that he had tattoos still visible on his mummified skin. Rather than the tattoos we expect to see in modern days such as symbols, animals and plantlife, Otzi's tattoos were mostly made of a series of lines. The lines were over areas in his body where the scientists also found evidence of arthritis or other painful conditions, so they believe that his tattoos may have been medicinal rather than ornamental.
