In fact, nobody even knew how to write yet, let alone sign their name. But there was already a very reliable way to leave a permanent record: on skin. More than 5,000 years ago.
Don’t believe it? Then stop by the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, where a Copper Age guy named Ötzi still “lives.”
That long ago, Ötzi crossed the Ötztal Alps and met a sad end on a glacier — most likely a violent one.
He was discovered in 1991. Several hikers have been credited with the find, including Slovenian tourist Magdalena Mohar Jarc, who said the snow gave way beneath her feet and she slipped “into a several-meter-deep crevasse. Of course, the unexpected fall terrified me. In that moment of mortal fear, as I was getting back up, I saw a body in the ice.”
At first, people thought it was a modern corpse. They hacked it roughly out of the ice and transported it to the morgue in Innsbruck. Only there did they realize Ötzi’s true age.
Ötzi was heavily tattooed: 61 tattoos in total, scattered across his body, mostly lines and crosses near his chest and lower spine, as well as on his wrists, knees, calves, and ankles. They were likely therapeutic, intended to relieve pain.
These tattoos were not made with a needle, but with small incisions into which ground charcoal was rubbed.
And yet the point remains: someone made a decision and recorded it, and that record survived for five thousand years. Not bad for a technology with no cloud server behind it, right?
If you compare tattooing with e-signing, there are actually quite a few parallels. Both involve confirming identity. And also belonging. Status. Meaning.
Researchers found the world’s oldest figurative tattoos on two 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummies : images of a wild bull and a Barbary sheep on the upper arm of a male mummy, and S-shaped motifs on the upper arm and shoulder of a female mummy.
In Polynesia, Micronesia, and parts of Malaysia, pigment was tapped into the skin using a tool similar to a miniature rake. Tattoos told the story of a person’s life — their origins, achievements, social standing, and more. In fact, the word tattoo itself comes from Tahiti and was recorded by James Cook during his 1769 expedition.
Elsewhere, among Japanese fishermen and artisans, tattoos could serve as a means of identification in the event of an accident at sea.
The ancient Romans, on the other hand, forcibly tattooed soldiers and enslaved people — not as decoration, but as proof of ownership .
In some cases, tattooing rises to the level of corporate identity — with visual elements more permanent than a logo on a business card.
The Japanese mafia, the Yakuza , developed one of the most recognizable visual systems in the world: the traditional Japanese tattooing style known as irezumi. These tattoos cover large areas of the body and, again, are not just decorative. They communicate exactly who the wearer is, where they belong, and what they take pride in — because tattoos on that scale are not something you can easily hide.
Every motif has a specific meaning. Every color has a role. In some ways, it is a branding more sophisticated than what many companies manage.
This fascination with irezumi has a bizarre extension . Japanese physician Fukushi Masaichi (1878–1956) became known for collecting and preserving tattooed “skin garments” from deceased Yakuza members, with consent. He saw them as an extraordinary artistic and cultural legacy worth preserving.
His collection once included 2,000 preserved skin specimens. Most were destroyed in bombing during World War II, but 105 are still preserved today in the Medical Museum of the University of Tokyo. However, they are not accessible to the public. Fukushi’s collection may also be seen as a rather striking example of archiving.
Today, people don’t get tattooed to prove membership in a tribe, guild, or criminal organization. We use tattoos to express a personal stance, a worldview, or maybe to test how far we’re willing to go with our own skin.
It is an expression of autonomy: I decide what I put on my skin, and what that inscription says about me.
Research on tattoo prevalence suggests that Italy leads at 48%, followed by Sweden at 47%, the United States at around 46%, and Australia at 43%.
Tattooing is becoming increasingly popular among younger generations, and the global tattoo market is seeing strong demand. Requests for fine-line tattoos increased by more than 35% between 2023 and 2026. Demand for temporary tattoos is also on the rise.
So yes — it is a personal decision, one that leaves a lasting and verifiable mark.
Once a tattoo is on your skin, it becomes a kind of signature — a statement, a personal decision that leaves a lasting, and verifiable, imprint.
You can cover it with clothing or layer more tattoos over it, but you cannot truly erase it. It carries information about when it was made, who created it, and who wears it.
Of course, you are not going to sign a contract with a tattoo. But someone might still say, “It was signed by the one with the tattoo,” which means you have, in a way, authenticated yourself even further.
Without needles, ink, and above all, without paper, you can sign contracts using the BetrSign e-signing service. Before committing to serious use, you can try it free for 30 days or book a demo .
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