Peru— Tattoo scenes & cities

On Peru's north coast, the tomb of the Lady of Cao (Señora de Cao), in the Huaca Cao Viejo pyramid of the El Brujo complex near Trujillo, belongs to the Moche culture. Her mummy bears tattoos of snakes and spiders on her forearms, ankles and toes. According to the archaeologist who found her, these animals are linked, in Andean symbolism, to the fertility of the land.

On the same coast, a study published in 2025 examined more than a hundred Chancay mummies with lasers. Only three people had highly detailed tattoos, made of lines 0.1 to 0.2 millimetre thick, with geometric triangle patterns close to those on pottery and textiles. Their exact meaning is still under study: status or spiritual emblem.