# What’s the oldest fingerprint? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550 "2008-05-08T12:31:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/1 "2008-05-08T12:31:51Z")
Do we have any, say, of the Framers’ fingerprints? Jefferson was a tinkerer/inventor of sorts. Franklin too. Could there be a container or other enclosed space where their fingerprints are likely to be? Have any ever been recovered? What about before that? Wouldn’t there be prints inside some of the tombs that have been unearthed after a couple thousand years? Do prints decay? Can you get prints off a mummy? Do any fingerprint collectors exist (outside of law enforcement)? I have no idea why this is on my mind. Rhythm ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/2 "2008-05-08T12:37:05Z")
To be clear, are you drawing a distinction between fingerprint impressions (such as might be left in soft clay), visible prints (which might result from having paint, ink or other substances on the fingers) and latent prints (invisible prints consisting of skin oils and secretions?) ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/3 "2008-05-08T12:43:13Z")
There are some [bog bodies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollund_man) with fingerprints that are still distinguishable, and they are pre-historic. I don’t have a cite for it, but there was an episode of Reading Rainbow that showed fingerprints on tools left in prehistoric chalk mines, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/4 "2008-05-08T12:53:50Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] To be clear, are you drawing a distinction between fingerprint impressions (such as might be left in soft clay), visible prints (which might result from having paint, ink or other substances on the fingers) and latent prints (invisible prints consisting of skin oils and secretions?) [/QUOTE] I’m not picky. **Sattua** pointed to probably the winner in the Oldest Fingerprint we can Use for later Identification category, but there are still plenty of categories – oldest Greek, Oldest American Historical Figure, Oldest Roman, etc… Imagine having a framed print of one of Lincoln’s prints. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/5 "2008-05-08T13:10:07Z")
Didn’t lots of Renaissance Painters and Old Masters use their thumbs and fingers to swirl paint around to create the desired effect on canvas? I’m pretty sure we know what Da Vinci’s thumbprint is, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/6 "2008-05-09T04:27:59Z")
According to [this site:](http://www.policensw.com/info/fingerprints/finger01.html) > [@](#): > > The earliest dated prints of the ridged skin on human hands and feet were made about 4,000 years ago during the pyramid building era in Egypt. In addition, one small portion of palm print, not known to be human, has been found impressed in hardened mud at a 10,000-year old site in Egypt. I would have thought that at least some fingerprints might be visible in European cave art produced about 30-35,000 years ago, but maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/7 "2008-05-09T05:06:13Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] Didn’t lots of Renaissance Painters and Old Masters use their thumbs and fingers to swirl paint around to create the desired effect on canvas? I’m pretty sure we know what Da Vinci’s thumbprint is, for example. [/QUOTE] Like [this?](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/graphics/2008/03/16/sv_new1.jpg) [From here](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/03/16/sv_artcamera.xml) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/8 "2008-05-09T16:45:01Z")
Lots of fingerprints on old cuneiform tablets. I have seen a cite that all of the letters of Hammurabi were written in the same hand. Some have conjectured that he scribed them himself. Which would mean that somewhere there might be a tablet with the old Lawguy’s fingerprint on it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/9 "2008-05-09T20:04:09Z")
here’s a 32,000 year old handprint > **[Who made this handprint on the cave wall?](http://artofancienttimes.blogspot.com/2007/04/who-made-this-handprint-on-cave-wall.html)** > > 1.The handprint to the right is a cave painting drawn 32,000 years ago and is the oldest portrait of man. On the walls of Chauvet Cave in so... ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-oldest-fingerprint/448550/10 "2008-05-09T20:35:47Z")
Fascinating. So **cornflakes** /da Vinci is the oldest (posted) _identifiable_ fingerprint. The 32K+ handprint is way out there, but wouldn’t the original interior print (i.e., not the outline) have been smudged away by eons of followers and gawkers? Or have some of the caves been found recently enough such that the wall would have remained untouched since neolithic times?