Archive Note
Studied by Maria Anna Pabst and colleagues at the Medical University of Graz and published in 2010, the Chiribaya Alta woman bears decorative tattoos of birds, monkeys, and reptiles on her hands, arms, and lower leg made from soot, alongside twelve overlapping circles on her neck made from a materially different, partially burned plant pigment. The two pigment types on a single body are what make the case distinctive. The neck marks are circles, not sun symbols, and they sit near points sometimes linked to head and neck pain, but the acupuncture or meridian reading is disputed, so the cautious wording is a possible healing or strengthening ritual rather than a settled therapeutic claim.