本研究採用田野調查的方法，以屏東泰武鄉排灣族佳興部落70-98 歲的貴族女性進行訪談與觀察，主要目的在探討佳興部落貴族女性手紋之種類，及其與社會階級之關係、手紋紋樣之名稱與意義、紋手之過程與使用之工具及紋手之護理方法。研究發現佳興部落貴族女性擁有紋手之權利，紋手是一種身分、地位的象徵，更難得的是能以圖片真實地呈現各種不同貴族等級與手紋紋樣之關係，換言之，因為血緣距離核心貴族家族的遠近之不同，形成不同等級的貴族，而其手紋亦有所差異。另外，也發現各種手紋紋樣的名稱及其在文化中的意義。透過訪談，也了解部落貴族女性紋手的程序與使用之工具，還有在傳統時期因為避免紋手所造成之傷口感染與疼痛之護理方法。排灣族貴族女性手紋顯現了多樣的文化意義，不僅象徵其階級身分，更含有階級權利、家族歷史、醫學、護理、禁忌等等的文化在其中，而且不同部落間之紋樣與意義仍有差異，值得更廣泛地進行收集與分析研究。

The aim of this research is to explore noble women's hand tattoos in the Chiahsing community, one of important Paiwanese tribes in Pingtung. Based on the field study, several elderly noble women age 70-98 in Chiahsing community had been interviewed and observed in order to explore hand tattoos - the types and their connections with social class, naming and meaning, the process and toolkit of making tattoos, and the ways of wound treatment. The main findings of this study are as following: for the noble women in the Chiahsing community, hand tattoos were important symbol of identity and social status. Some pictures had been collected in this study to show the relationship between hand tattoos and social status. Hand tattoos, with different types, names and meanings, could vary in corresponds with hierarchy of noble people. Paiwanese noble women's hand tattoos reveal multiple cultural meanings. From class status and power, family histories, medicine, caring and taboos, different meanings existed among different tribes which required more wide data collection and further analysis.