A nearly 2,000-year-old tattoo needle discovered among artifacts unearthed from Bears Ears archaeological dig

What’s believed to be the oldest tattoo needle ever found in western North America has been identified in artifacts from a dig at southeast Utah’s Bears Ears area.

The discovery, made by an archaeology doctoral candidate at Washington State University, extends what we know about the history of tattooing and body alteration among ancient indigenous people — and points out the value of preserving the much-argued-about Bears Ears area.

Read the full story at sltrib.com.