For instance, researchers have found other cactus-spine tattoo tools in what is now Arizona and New Mexico, Gillreath-Brown said. The earliest of these tools dates to between A.D. 1100 and 1280.

Two parallel cactus needles, stained black, did the actual tattooing. Gillreath-Brown analyzed the tips with a scanning electron microscope, X‑ray florescence and energy dispersive ray spectroscopy.

The oldest tattooing tool in western North America, a 2,000-year-old pair of cactus needles with dye-stained tips, has been discovered in Utah. The tool was used for applying tattoos, shedding ...