The –est Archaeology

A 2,000-year-old tattoo tool is the oldest in western North America

Made of cactus spines, the artifact has been sitting in storage since 1972

2000-year-old tattoo tool

TATTOO YOU  A tattoo-making tool, with a business end consisting of two pigment-stained cactus spines, dates to almost 2,000 years ago.

Robert Hubner/Washington State Univ.

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

While taking an inventory of stored artifacts excavated in Utah in 1972, archaeologist Andrew Gillreath-Brown thought he recognized one: a tattooing tool.