HISTORY OF TATTOOS AND TATTOOING
Tattooing as an art form can be traced back to prehistoric times. In October, 1991, a five thousand year old (dating from about 3300 B.C.) tattooed man made the headlines of newspapers all over the world. The frozen body of a hunter dating from the Bronze Age was found buried in a glacier on a mountain between Austria and Italy. The astonishingly preserved skin on the hunter’s back and knees showed what seemed to look like tattoos. He had, it appears that, been hunting and was caught in a snowstorm as he tried to return to his dwelling. By the side of the body were clothing, a bow and arrows, a bronze ax and flint for making fire. These markings represent the earliest known evidence of the tattooing practice. Tattoos found on Egyptian and Nubian mummies date from about 2000 B.C.
This is the only body of a Bronze Age man found in a glacier, and certainly the best preserved corpse of that period ever found. The skin bears several tattoos: a cross on the inside of the left knee, six straight lines 15 centimeters long above the kidneys and numerous parallel lines on the ankles. The position of the tattoo marks hints that they were possibly applied for therapeutic reasons.
Instruments that were probably used for tattooing during the Upper Paleolithic (10,000 BC to 38,000 BC) have been discovered at several archaeological sites in Europe. Characteristically these instruments consist of a disk made of clay and red ochre jointly with sharp bone needles that are inserted into holes in the top of the disk. The disk provided as a reservoir and source of pigment, and the needles were exercised to pierce the skin. Clay and stone figures with engraved designs which in all probability symbolize tattooing have been found along with such instruments.
But before the frozen mummy of the Neolithic hunter was discovered, excavations of archeological sites across Egypt had acquiesced clay dolls with tattoo marks, as well as female mummies displaying patters of dots and lines over their bodies. Of these, the mummy of Amunet, a priestess of the goddess Hathor, found at Thebes is one of the most prominent found in the recent times. Egyptian tattoos were generally associated with the erotic, sensuous facet of life, and were by and large performed by women.
From Egypt, the art of tattooing traveled across the world to Southern China, Burma, Japan, the Philippines, Borneo and the Pacific Islands.
The Polynesians developed ‘moko’ a new method of tattooing based on religious patterns and taboo designs, which helped to increase the awareness of this art among people. The tattooing patterns employed were pointer to social ranks, family and tribal loyalty. This traditional tribal tattoo style is still prevalent in Borneo.
The tattoo cult also moved north from Egypt. The Greeks adopted tattoo marks for their spies while the Roman resorted to it for their criminals and slaves. We can also see examples of tattooing among the Gauls, Picts of Scotland and Teutons. The Danes and Saxons (who later on invaded the British Isles) used to pride in having family crests and tribal marking tattooed on their skin.
It is still not known how the art of tattooing reached America, although, it was prevalent during the civilization of the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas. It was considered an elaborate religious practice during this civilization.
The early inhabitants of Mexico and Peru were also familiar with the practice of tattooing.
In America, tattooing experienced a revival during the Civil War. Martin Hildebrandt, a German and one of the first professional tattoo artists, traveled to America in 1846. He set up shop in Boston, where he regularly tattooed the emblems of the Confederacy and the Union on soldiers belonging to the armies of rivals General Grant and General Lee. At the beginning of the 20th century, tattoo studios began springing up in the United States. By the time of World War II, it became part of the expression for sailors, soldiers and other military personnel.
The Ainu people had introduced the cult of tattooing in Japan. The people adopted this art mainly for the ornamental reason and not for religious or magical beliefs. The Japanese tattooists, better known as the Horis, developed a style characterized by the beauty of designs, expression and colors. In modern Japan, tattooing is seen as an art of the subversive society, adapted only by gang members and criminals.
Tattooing was rediscovered by Europeans when exploration brought them into contact with Polynesians and American Indians. For the reason that tattoos were considered so out of the ordinary in European and U.S. societies, tattooed Indians and Polynesians drew big crowds at circuses and fairs during the 18th and 19th centuries.
