Brides of Death, Ancien Egypt

Works of art relevant to Egyptian tattoo have been ignored by Egyptologists influenced by prevailing social attitudes toward the medium. Today, there have been mummies recovered dating to as early XI Dynasty exhibiting the art form of tattoo. One is that of Amunet, a priestess of the-goddess Hathor, at Thebes. This female mummy displayed lines and dots tattooed about her body.
A second mummy "the dancer" also found depicted this same type of line pattern. This mummy also had a cicatrix pattern over her lower pubic region. The various design patterns also appeared on several figurines that date to the Middle Kingdom, these figurines have been labeled the "Brides of Death."
Another mummy found datable to about 2000 B.C. also displayed tattoos on her body resembling that of Amunet and the dancer. "Such tattoos created by grouping dots and/or dashes into abstract geometric patterns demonstrate the long duration of tattoo in ancient Nubia, as recent excavations at the Nubian site of Aksha demonstrat", said an egyptologist.
Excavators at Aksha uncovered a number of mummies of both adolescent and adult women with blue (or black-blue) tattoos in the same configurations as those found on the three Egyptian mummies from the Middle Kingdom.
These dot-and-dash patterns have been seen for many years throughout Egypt. The evidence to date suggests that this art form was restricted to women associated with ritualistic practice.