{"id":19989,"date":"2026-01-12T14:36:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.areasciencepark.it\/la-scienza-svela-i-segreti-dei-tatuaggi-secolari\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T14:59:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:59:33","slug":"researchers-reveal-the-science-and-hidden-stories-behind-centuries-old-tattoos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.areasciencepark.it\/en\/researchers-reveal-the-science-and-hidden-stories-behind-centuries-old-tattoos\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers reveal the science behind centuries-old tattoos"},"content":{"rendered":"

A groundbreaking research project, supported by the European Research Infrastructures Consortium CERIC-ERIC<\/strong>, has shed new light on one of the most unusual and little-known chapters of human history: how human skin used to be tattooed – and then preserved \u2013 centuries ago.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0study<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0recently published in the journal Heritage Science<\/em>, combines history, chemistry, anthropology, and conservation science to better understand and protect rare tattooed skin fragments, many over a century old, held in the historic \u201cLuigi Cattaneo\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Anatomical Wax Collection at the University of Bologna<\/strong>. The research, which involved a multidisciplinary team from CERIC-ERIC<\/strong>, the Italian Space Agency (ASI)<\/strong>, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste<\/strong>, the University of Bologna<\/strong>, the University of Rome \u201cTor Vergata\u201d<\/strong> and the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)<\/strong>, offers a unique window into past tattooing practices, cultural traditions, and the ways museums once collected and studied the human body.<\/p>\n

Tattooing is an ancient human practice found across cultures and eras, from the 5,000-year-old tattooed \u201c\u00d6tzi\u201d mummy discovered in the Alps to medieval Christian pilgrims who marked their bodies as signs of faith. But alongside this rich history lies a darker legacy: the collection of tattooed human skin by early scientists, criminologists, and museums, particularly during the 19th century. At that time, tattoos were mistakenly viewed as signs of criminality or \u201cprimitive\u201d behavior, ideas promoted by influential but now-discredited figures such as Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso. This led to the preservation of tattooed skin in museums and research institutions across Europe.<\/p>\n

The tattooed fragments studied in this research primarily represent the Loreto tattooing tradition<\/strong> – a devotional practice geographically confined to central Italy and intimately connected to pilgrimages to the Holy House of Loreto, a major Catholic sanctuary in the Marche region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese tattoos – explains Monia Vadrucci<\/strong>, researcher at ASI and first author of the study – reveal intimate stories of individuals who lived in central Italy between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. Religious subjects – Madonnas of Loreto, monstrances, Sacred Hearts – testify to pilgrimages made to the Sanctuary of the Holy House, a journey that for peasants and people of humble origins represented a difficult undertaking, often accomplished on foot through the countryside. The date \u201c1881\u201d inscribed next to a Madonna, for example, immortalizes not only the year of the pilgrimage but probably a crucial moment in that person’s life: a grace received, a promise kept, or an act of thanksgiving\u201d.<\/p>\n

The tattoo, performed with rudimentary three-pointed iron tools, became a permanent ex-voto<\/em>, a physical bond with the divine imprinted on the skin \u2013 primarily on the wrists \u2013 recalling the stigmata of Christ and Saint Francis. Alongside sacred symbols, profane and erotic tattoos also emerge, evidence of a popular culture that mixed devotion and carnality without apparent contradiction. \u201cThe differences observed among the specimens, which suggest individuals of varying ages,\u201d adds Stefano Ratti<\/strong>, Professor of Human Anatomy at the University of Bologna and scientific expert of the \u201cLuigi Cattaneo\u201d Anatomical Wax Collection, \u201cindicate that these people carried their tattoos throughout their lives-indelible marks of moments that defined their spiritual and social identity in an era when the body itself became a book of memory\u201d.<\/p>\n

The tattooed skin pieces were rediscovered only recently in museum storage. With little documentation surviving about their origins, researchers saw an opportunity to study them with modern, non-invasive investigation methods that would protect the extremely fragile specimens while revealing their secrets: \u201cThrough advanced spectroscopic analyses conducted at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste – explains Chiaramaria Stani<\/strong>, former CERIC researcher who is now beamline scientist at Elettra – we identified traditional pigments such as plant-based carbon black for black tattoos, natural earth pigments for browns, and a mixture of cinnabar and minium for reds. But we also discovered traces of zinc and lime compounds, possibly suggesting the museum conservation methods of the time. This multidisciplinary approach allows us to document a nearly extinct cultural practice and develop specific conservation protocols for these unique materials\u201d.<\/p>\n

This research offers valuable insights into the moral, social, and religious dimensions of tattooing in 19th century Italy, contributing to the understanding of tattooing evolution from a devotional and identity-based practice to a contemporary art form<\/strong>. It also establishes a framework for museums worldwide that care for similar materials – many of which also lack documentation or face conservation challenges. Future investigations aim to expand the scientific techniques used and explore archival sources to better understand who these individuals were and how their tattooed skin came to be preserved.<\/p>\n

The research team also emphasizes the importance of addressing the ethical dimensions of studying and exhibiting human remains, recognizing them as sensitive materials that require respectful treatment while acknowledging their cultural and scientific value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A groundbreaking research project, supported by the European Research Infrastructures Consortium CERIC-ERIC, has shed new light on one of the most unusual and little-known chapters of human history: how human skin used to be tattooed – and then preserved \u2013 centuries ago. The\u00a0study,\u00a0recently published in the journal Heritage Science, combines history, chemistry, anthropology, and conservation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":19986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-our-campuses"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nResearchers reveal the science behind centuries-old tattoos - Area Science Park<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.areasciencepark.it\/en\/researchers-reveal-the-science-and-hidden-stories-behind-centuries-old-tattoos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Researchers reveal the science behind centuries-old tattoos - Area Science Park\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A groundbreaking research project, supported by the European Research Infrastructures Consortium CERIC-ERIC, has shed new light on one of the most unusual and little-known chapters of human history: how human skin used to be tattooed – and then preserved \u2013 centuries ago. 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