First identification of individuals using fingerprints

The clerics of the Chinese Qin Dynasty (221 to 206 BC) were the first scribes in the world to have used fingerprints as a means of personal and individual identification. The earliest known description of forensic use of fingerprints comes from a Chinese document entitled “The Volume of Crime Scene Investigation—Burglary”. The document describes how handprints were used as evidence in criminal trials of the time. The same technique is still used today where fingerprinting a crime scene remains one of the first forensic activities any police detective will use. During the Qin through Eastern Han dynasties (221 B.C. to 220 A.D.), fingerprint impressions in clay seals were used as a primary means of document validation by an individual. Documents consisting of bamboo slips or pages were rolled with string bindings sealed with clay. The clay would then have the name of the individual inscribed on one area, and his fingerprint impressed in another. This demonstrated both who the author was and the fact that no one had tampered with the seal.