World’s oldest tattoos presented in archaeology lecture

On Sept. 15,  the second annual John W. Sanders Lecture will bring a rare look at Ötzi, a 5,300-year-old iceman with the world’s oldest tattoos.

Ötzi was recovered from a ridge at 10,500 feet in the Ötzal Alps in 1991, and has since come to represent a triumph of modern scientific analysis. After nearly three decades of research, scientists know more about this 5,300-year old man than perhaps any other ancient human. Studies have examined the tools he carried, the clothes he wore, his health conditions, the ingredients of his last meal, deciphered his complete genome, and even identified the bacteria that inhabited his gastrointestinal tract. Analysis has also shown that Ötzi’s body was adorned with at least 61 tattoos, the oldest preserved examples of tattooing discovered to date.

For the past decade, prehistoric archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf of the Tennessee Division of Archaeology has been studying the archaeological evidence for tattooing. In his lecture, Deter-Wolf will discuss Ötzi’s life, death, and discovery, and what 5,300- year-old tattoos can tell us about human behavior and the ancient world.

The lecture is sponsored by the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society (SJBAS), in conjunction with the Fort Lewis College (FLC) Department of Anthropology.

“If there’s one thing that makes humans humans, it’s drawing on ourselves and poking holes in our bodies,” said Jesse Tune, Ph. D., assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. Tune expects the lecture to cover not only Ötzi’s tattoos, but the overall history of tattooing and how it’s a deeply human act.

“Everyone forever has been tattooed,” Tune said. “It’s a bigger part of what it means to be human.” The lecture will be held at FLC in the Student Union Ballroom at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 (plus convenience fees) and can be purchased at the Durango Welcome Center or at www.durangoconcerts.com. If still available, tickets may be purchased at the door for $13 starting at 6 p.m. Half of ticket proceeds will support the SJBAS Internship and Education Fund, which provides two FLC student internships at the Center of Southwest Studies and summer FLC archaeology field school scholarships.

Deter-Wolf is co-editor of the newly released book, Ancient Ink: The Archaeology of Tattooing. A limited number of signed copies will be for sale before and after the lecture. Payment is to be by cash or check only.

In conjunction with the Ötzi lecture, Deter-Wolf will sit on a panel discussion at 7 p.m. on Sept. 17 with Tune and Nadia Neff, visiting instructor of Anthropology. The topic for the panel will be "Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries in Archaeology,” and how those relate to current conversations about fake news. Many legitimate archaeological ideas have been used by certain groups to bolster unfounded fringe theories, from a race of human giants, to aliens and pyramids, to the mysterious abandonment of ancient cities.

“People have the tendency to read headlines and not the story, and because of that legitimate archaeological research gets spun in crazy ways,” Tune said. “Some people choose to ignore that indigenous people have agency, and have always used innovative technologies to accomplish remarkable things.”

The panel discussion will be at FLC in Room 130 of Noble Hall and is free and open to the public.