Fascinating Ancient History Of Fingerprints

MessageToEagle.com – Fingerprints have been a source of people’s great fascination and can be traced back to ancient times.

Today, however, it is difficult to establish whether the fingerprints were placed on the artifacts, walls and documents intentionally or coincidentally.
The earliest records of fingerprints are seemingly dated to 7,000 BC and originate from Jericho, near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. Neolithic bricks from this ancient city were discovered to contain thumbprints of ancient bricklayers as it is mentioned in K. M. Kenyon’s book “Archaeology of the Holy Land”.

Circa 3,000 BC, in Mesopotamia, fingerprints were placed on clay tablets to confirm business transactions. In the construction of the king’s storehouse, each brick was purposely provided with a “digital impression” in form of finger imprints.

In ancient Egypt the similar procedure was used in the construction of the royal buildings. Fingerprints were also pressed on the walls of Egyptian tombs.

Ancient artifacts containing carvings of fingerprints and dated to 3,000 BC, were discovered in Northwest Europe at New Grange on the coast of Ireland, but also and in Brittany, France.
Images of fingerprint ridges were also found in a number of artifacts discovered in burial chamber passages and tombs from this period of time.

For about one year ago, archaeologists unearthed pieces of a 5,500-year-old ceramic vessel from an ancient fjord east of Rødbyhavn near Lolland, Denmark and on it, there was an ancient fingerprint.

People lived in Nova Scotia for more than 11,000 years , which is confirmed by written history and oral tradition as well. For example, the outline of a hand with etchings representing the ridge patterns on fingertips was once scratched into slate rock beside Kejimkujik Lake, in Nova Scotia.

Prehistoric cave artists and pot makers used to “sign” their works with an impressed finger or thumbprint. Fingerprints have been discovered on ancient Babylonian seals, clay tablets, and pottery. They have also been found Greek and Chinese pottery, as well as on bricks and tiles in Babylon and Rome.

The imprints of fingers have been found embossed on 6,000-year-old Chinese pottery and according to a Chinese historian, Kia Kung-Yen, who lived in the Tang period, thumb prints were found on clay seals and inked fingerprints were used to “sign” legal documents regarding loans, debts and contracts.

The oldest of the documents, which “survived” are dated to the 3rd century BC. The imprint, which is deeply embedded in the seal, is considered to be an important identifying mark.

Could it mean that the ancient Chinese were fully aware of the uniqueness of a fingerprint? If this is so, there is the strong evidence that the Chinese were aware of the individuality of fingerprints very long time ago.

Ancient records from the 14th century Persia inform that one government official, a physician, made an important discovery. Namely, he observed that no two fingerprints were exactly alike! As we see, he was not the first to observe the fingerprints’ unique feature.

Sir William James Herschel (1833 – 1917) whose father and grandfather were astronomers, decided to choose another career. He joined the East India Company, and began his work a British civil servant in India.
More and more interested in fingerprinting, Herschel made a variety of experiments and soon realized that a person’s fingerprints do not change over time! In 1916, one year before he died, Sir Herschel published his work entitled “The Origin of Fingerprinting”.

See also:
History Of Safety Coffins: From Ancient To Modern Times

Ancient History Of Dentistry

C. Lee wrote in his book “Advances in fingerprint technology” that Henry Faulds (1843-1930), a medical missionary for the Church of Scotland, was very interested interested in fingerprints. In one of his experiments, he removed the skin from fingers (!) of his patients after fingerprinting them.

When the skin regrew on the fingertips he fingerprinted them once more. He noted that the ridge detail was exactly the same as it was before the skin was removed.

His conclusion was that fingerprint patterns were variable, but ridge detail was immutable!

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