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From ethnographic accounts and ancient Mayan imagery, we know that the Maya engaged in various forms of body modification, including piercing, body painting, scarification, and tattooing. However, no Mayan remains with tattoos or tattooing implements are known from the archaeological record.

Despite this, we know tattoos were found on a wide variety of individuals and differed depending on the individual receiving them, serving both as a source of pride and a form of punishment.

Dr. W. James Stemp elaborates, "Based on the Spanish ethnohistoric accounts and Classic Maya artwork, it appears both adult men and women could be tattooed. We have no evidence suggesting children were tattooed.

"Men and women seem to have been tattooed differently in terms of body parts, and this also seemed to vary somewhat by ethnic/language group. It seems that tattooing was done to mark transitions in a person's life or to mark important events, and that tattooing may have been both a sign of value, as well as a form of punishment, depending on the person and the situation.

"Aspects of special status seem to be involved in some cases. Warriors may have been tattooed as signs of valor, and specialists who performed certain religious rituals may have also been tattooed."

Tattoos usually followed one of two themes, either being animal-based, such as depicting bats, serpents, and eagles, or taking the form of geometric shapes, including loops, dots, curves, and spirals, often placed on the face, thighs, breasts, soles of the feet, and ankles.

However, distinguishing what imagery and even what accounts refer to tattoos can be difficult. For one, depictions make it hard to distinguish between simple body paint and tattoos, while ethnohistoric accounts often describe tattooing with words such as "paint," "painting," or "painted."

This is likely because the Classic Mayan word "tz'ihb" meant both "to write" and "to paint" and was used for any form of linework with ink.

Thus, the archaeological evidence for tattoos in the ancient Maya world is somewhat blurred.

However, recently, a group of researchers, led by Dr. Stemp, have uncovered the first ever Mayan tattooing implements in Actun Uayazaba Kab cave in Belize. The findings are in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

"The archaeological investigations at AUK were part of a larger project in west-central Belize (the Western Belize Regional Cave Project) in the late 1990s that included a number of caves. What led to a greater focus on this cave was the artwork (petroglyphs and pictographs, including the negative handprints), the modification inside the cave (including plaster floors), and the human burials," explains Dr. Stemp.

Among the finds were two stone burins. After being recovered from a ledge above the cave together with jade beads, an obsidian blade, carved shell pendants, and pottery fragments, the burins were placed in storage for almost thirty years.

Among the ancient Maya, stone burins were often used to drill hard materials such as bone or shell. But they could also be used for a number of other activities. A use-wear analysis was conducted to determine the purpose of the stone burins.

It was found that the burins had polish at the very tip, and use-wear traces were not consistent with drilling activities or blood-letting activities.

An experimental replica burin was produced. Using this experimental burin, a puncture tattoo was made into fresh pig skin, as pig skin is recognized as the best biological proxy for human skin.

The use-wear traces were consistent with the use-wear observed on the Mayan stone burins. Additionally, along the tips of the Mayan artifacts was evidence of black residue, possibly the remains of ink.

If their hypothesis is correct, these would be the first ever Mayan tattooing tools to have ever been discovered in archaeology.

When asked how long burins may have been used before being discarded, or in this case, deposited in the cave, Dr. Stemp had this to say: "We suspect tattooing wasn't just about how long a stone tool could be physically used for the purpose before it got dull or broke.

"As a ritualized or ceremonial practice, we suspect the use-life of a stone tool used for tattooing was connected to a particular tattooing event involving a specific person. In this sense, each stone tool could only be used once for one tattooing event or ceremony.

"This is also likely connected to the Maya belief that proper use of an object also required successful communion with the 'spirit' or 'life-force' within said object. So, tattooing wasn't just about practical function; it involved another, deeper level of supernatural connection associated with a ritual or ceremony. Tattooing tools were special items, which likely explains their deposition in a powerfully charged location like a cave."

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