Com 150 - the History of Tattoos and Piercings

The History of Tattoos and Piercings

COM/150

May 12, 2010

The History of Tattoos and Piercings

Tattoos and piercings have been used in a variety of cultures for thousands of years. They have been used for many purposes from identifying family status to tribal markings. The history of tattoos and piercings has changed immensely over the years. They started off as having spiritual and ritualistic purposes to many cultures around the world and to this very day some of those cultures are still practicing them. Other cultures used tattoos and piercings for reasons of stature and appearances to claiming slaves.

The earliest known tattoos were discovered on a 5,200 year old mummy now known as the "Ice Man" (Lineberry, 2007). Blue markings were noticed on his hands. Scientists also found markings on his knees and ankles as well as on his torso. In this period it is said that tattoos were applied as a form of stature among cultures. The more tattoos a person had, meant the more power one had in the family or tribe. The tattoos at this time consisted mostly of lines, dots and simple shapes like diamonds. In this period tattoos were believed to be applied with a sharpened bone attached to a stick and punctured through the skin with a slight tapping on the stick. Then the ink was rubbed over the puncture marks. If the ink did not stay then the bone was tapped into the skin deeper. This method is still practiced in some parts of the world (Lineberry, 2007).

In the beginning most tattoos were applied for spiritual purposes. Tattoos were used to honor who or what the tribe or culture worshiped. They were also used to announce to others who was being worshiped. Even in present day, to the Iban tribes, up the Skrang River in Borneo, a tattoo is considered a passport to the afterlife. If they do not have one then he or she could not get into their heaven of choice (www.tattoosdaily.com/religious-tattoos/2009).

The tattoo of the dolphin is a symbol of the sea for those who want to honor the sea. One of the most popular symbols to be worshiped is the sun. The sun is worshiped as a deity in almost every major civilization in history. The most common tattoo of the sun is a circle with the sun's rays emanating from the perimeter (tattoosdaily.com 2009). The sun has been considered a masculine symbol and the moon and earth have been considered to be more feminine symbols. They were also said to be used for protection as well (National Geographic, 2006). These tattoos and designs were also found in the textiles of rugs and blankets, even some of the utensils used.

Tattoos and piercings have been used in tribes all over the globe for a number of reasons. Woman of the Mursi people have lip plates, and they consider them to be a sign of beauty. In their culture, the bigger the lip plate the more beautiful the woman. In the Samoa culture the ways that they have done tattooing has changed very little over the last 2,000 years. They call tattoos tatua and the artist is called tafuga, and the instrument used is called an Au. The au is a tool made of sharpened boar's teeth, which are fastened together with a piece of turtle shell and a wooden handle. The techniques are passed on from father to son over the course of many years and endless amounts of practice on sand and dark cloth (The Beginning: Tatau in Samoa, 2003).

Many cultures have their own name for the word tattoo, but there are also other forms of tattoos. Scarification is another form of tattooing which was and still is done by razor blades to create scars. Ink is put into the scars to help them stand out and be more noticeable. These can also be called "brands". Slaves were branded by their owners with a specific type of symbol, initials or some sort of marking that was for that one owner. This would let other people know that this slave is their property and it was also in case the slave got away, he or she could be returned to the owner. Some tattoos have an even darker meaning. Some tattoos are considered to be the mark of death, like a specific symbol among a town or culture. In the 5th Century BC Japanese tattoos were considered to be a form of punishment. Criminals and untouchables were identified be having tattoos on their arms and foreheads. In the 17th Century, the Japanese culture started to see them as decorative embellishments. Toward the end of the 19th Century, the Japanese government decided that tattooing was a threat to public morality and tried to outlaw them altogether (Tan2008).

Piercings go back in history as far as tattoos do. Nose piercings were first recorded in the Middle East over 4,000 years ago. According to Cassie Brill in 2007; the first nose piercing was mentioned in The Bible in Genesis 24:22 Abraham requested his oldest servant to find a wife for his son Isaac; the servant found Rebekah, and one of the