‘Anthropologies of the Body’ often view the human form as a sort of text, onto which meanings and experiences are inscribed during people’s lives, rendering the body effectively as an artefact of material culture. Such ‘inscription’ is generally metaphorical; however, in the case of tattooing, aspects of the way people wish to be perceived are quite literally inscribed upon the body. The current article presents analysis of an unusual ‘artefact’ in the form of the major anterior portion of the preserved, tattooed skin of an adult male. The skin’s provenance was previously unknown, as was the reason why he had been subject to such treatment after death. The current project has progressed towards resolving these issues using multiple approaches, including CT scanning, multispectral light sources, infrared reflectography and spectroscopic dating. The latter technique produced a date range of 1861 ±15 years for the wood on which the skin was mounted. Multispectral and infrared light examination made it possible to discern many of the tattooed motifs much more clearly. The images and text that were made visible suggested this man had been French and had probably spent time overseas, possibly in naval service. Towards the end of his life, he may have been imprisoned and the date ‘1883’ was decipherable. The current analysis allowed the investigators to glean far more information than was initially expected, providing a considerably richer personal narrative of this individual through the content of his tattoos than is usually possible in biological anthropology.

“身体人类学”通常将人的形式视为一种文本，在人们的生活中铭刻着各种意义和经验，从而有效地使身体成为物质文化的产物。这样的“题词”通常是隐喻的。但是，在纹身的情况下，人们希望被感知的方式的各个方面确实刻在了身体上。当前文章以成年男性保留的纹身皮肤的主要前部形式，对不寻常的“假象”进行了分析。皮肤的来源以前是未知的，这也是他死后接受这种治疗的原因。当前的项目已通过多种方法解决这些问题，包括CT扫描，多光谱光源，红外反射成像和光谱测年。后一种技术为安装皮肤的木材生产的日期范围为1861年±15年。通过多光谱和红外光检查，可以更清晰地辨认出许多纹身图案。可见的图像和文字暗示此人是法国人，可能曾在海外度过时间，可能曾在海军服役。在他生命的尽头，他可能已经入狱，可以辨认出'1883'日期。当前的分析使研究人员能够获得比最初预期更多的信息，从而通过纹身的内容为该人提供了比生物学人类学中通常更为丰富的个人叙事。通过多光谱和红外光检查，可以更清晰地辨认出许多纹身图案。可见的图像和文字暗示此人是法国人，可能曾在海外度过时间，可能曾在海军服役。在他生命的尽头，他可能已经入狱，可以辨认出“ 1883”这一日期。当前的分析使研究人员能够获得比最初预期更多的信息，从而通过纹身的内容为该人提供了比生物学人类学中通常更为丰富的个人叙述。通过多光谱和红外光检查，可以更清晰地辨认出许多纹身图案。可见的图像和文字暗示此人是法国人，可能曾在海外度过时间，可能曾在海军服役。在他生命的尽头，他可能已经入狱，可以辨认出“ 1883”这一日期。当前的分析使研究人员能够获得比最初预期更多的信息，从而通过纹身的内容为该人提供了比生物学人类学中通常更为丰富的个人叙述。在他生命的尽头，他可能已经入狱，可以辨认出“ 1883”这一日期。当前的分析使研究人员能够获得比最初预期更多的信息，从而通过纹身的内容为该人提供了比生物学人类学中通常更为丰富的个人叙述。在他生命的尽头，他可能已经入狱，可以辨认出“ 1883”这一日期。当前的分析使研究人员能够获得比最初预期更多的信息，从而通过纹身的内容为该人提供了比生物学人类学中通常更为丰富的个人叙述。