The Anthropology of Tattooing with Aaron Deter-Wolf - Ep 32

In this episode, David sits down in Nashville with archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf, a leading researcher in the archaeology of tattooing and co-editor of Ancient Ink: The Archaeology of Tattooing. They explore how tattoos function as deep cultural expressions across human societies, from Ötzi the Iceman’s 5,000-year-old tattoos to newly documented tattooed mummies in Peru. The conversation dives into experimental archaeology, ancient tattoo tools made from bone and stone, and what tattoos can reveal about identity, belief, and social structure in the past. Together they discuss how tattoo traditions changed under empires, how archaeologists identify tattooing in the archaeological record, and why body modification may be one of humanity’s oldest cultural universals.