The team worked with researcher Daniel Riday who reproduces ancient tattoo designs on his body using historical methods.
Now that's dedication to research!
https://youtu.be/_BqarmmtLwc?si=fI3Lg9RXTabOuesG&utm_source=...
As soon as I saw the title of that video I knew it would be about 9 Ötzi and I suddenly had a deep longing to get those tattoos! But It feels like instead of copying Ötzi I'd really just be copying this kid off YouTube so I won't.
However I'm still thinking: if I ever get any localized health issues, maybe I'll get an Ötzi-style tattoo there. Since it's thought that his tattoos were likely a form of medicine.
(So far the only health issue I have had was localised... To my anus. I decided to skip that one... Luckily modern fixed it nicely already!)
On that note, I'd recommend the title scene in the Iranian movie Qeysar [0] from 1969.
A number of the same motifs from 2.5k years ago are still around in Indo-Iranian culture.
Some of the older generations of Pakhtun Hindus still tattoo in that style [1], as a number of the central tribes of the Pakhtun community were Saka [2]. A granddaughter from the community has been working on documenting the culture for a couple years now [3]
On a separate note, highly recommend watching New Age Iranian Cinema (1965-1980ish). It's good stuff.
[0] - https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/qeysar/
[1] - https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tattooed-blue-skinned...
[2] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephthalites
[3] - https://www.instagram.com/sheenkhalaiartproject/?hl=en
He is covered in tattoos, and is himself a tattooist specialising in hand-poke and non-machine tattooing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1COALTMnP-8
Sounds like a gimmick. Doesn't mean he isn't a legit researcher, doesn't mean he is, but personally it feels more like something you'd see on history channel than actual scientific research; the whole thing seemed less credible after I read that.