‘Tramp Stamp’ Tattoos Were Used by Ancient Egyptian Women for Protection During Childbirth

Tattoo artistMary ManleyThe lower back tattoo, sometimes referred to with the misnomer of “tramp stamp,” was popularized by female celebrities in the 1990s, and later saw women adorned with the body art often accused of promiscuity.Despite the more recent stigmatism of the so-called “tramp stamp,” researchers have recently determined that the the tattoo has been around for thousands of years, and at one point, served as a protection for women.Researchers studying several ancient mummies found in tombs at the site of Egypt’s Deir el-Medina since 2019 have found at least seven 3,000-year-old mummies at the excavation site sporting what appeared to be tattoos. The first lower back tattoo discovered was on the preserved left hip of a woman who had died when she was middle-aged. Found next to her body was a bowl—a symbol of a postnatal ritual, along with depictions of Bes, an ancient Egyptian deity of music and childbirth. The partially existing tattoo, if symmetrical at the time when the woman was still alive, would have run along her lower back.“In the human remains, we have only found evidence of tattoos on adult, Egyptian women during the New Kingdom, but some depictions show tattoos on younger women,” researcher Anne Austin, who is an assistant professor of history at the University of Missouri, told IFLScience. “So while the practice is clearly gendered, we are still trying to understand the role tattoos played in this Egyptian village.”“As a practice for women, tattooing reveals some of the issues important to women in this village and their roles dealing with these issues,” she added. “The tattoos give us one way to see that when texts are relatively silent.”Alongside Austin, fellow researcher Marie-Lys Arnette, who is an assistant professor of history of Egyptian art and archaeology, also found several clay figurines with markings on their lower backs and upper thighs that were buried with the women. It’s believed the effigy were either representing or in connection to Bes.What is suspected to be a second maternity tattoo was found on another female mummy located in a nearby tomb, and was only visible with the use of infrared photography. The tattoo is a zigzag pattern which may represent cooling waters to help relieve menstrual pain, as well as goats which symbolize fertility and good luck, and towards the center of the tattoo is the Eye of Horus, or a wedjat eye which represents healing and protection. Next to the goats are lotus flowers, which symbolize rebirth.