Tattoos as Inked Narratives of Identity: A Comprehensive Forensic Anthropological Review

Abstract

Tattoos are excellent identifiers of unidentified persons encountered in forensic anthropological scenarios as the former are a form of secret language written under the skin that may become silent witness to certain unsolved mysteries. Diverse communities have practiced tattooing for centuries, representing as a marker of their identity, spirituality, traditions, beliefs and cultural heritage. Anthropologically, tattoos generally symbolize togetherness, unity, and kinship. They can prove to be valuable adjunct even in challenging situations where facial identification of an individual isn’t possible due to the destruction of the victim’s face by the criminal. Present review aims to provide an in-depth information about these inked narratives and, advocates for preparing a catalogue of common tattoo marks and envisions an expedited and accurate human identification process using them in mass-disaster scenarios. The improved technologies of visualization, documentation and classification of tattoo marks can help in generating a comprehensive database to assist law enforcement agencies in identification of unidentified decedents.