The History of Tattoos 1

Running head: The History of Tattoos.

The History of Tattoos

Donna E. Allen

University of Phoenix
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Abstract

Tattoos are over thousands of years old and have been used in many different cultures

throughout the centuries. Many cultures have used tattooing for therapeutic reasons thinking that

the marks would help with arthritis. Some cultures use tattoos for marking criminals or even to

show that they are chiefs or to show their high rank in the society. Society in a lot of places view

tattoos being part of a gang or biker or even a criminal but this is not true. Many people get

tattoos because it is a tradition in their culture or because they are putting a memory on their

body so that they can always remember it.

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The History of Tattoos.

When people see tattoos on someone they do not think of the history that is behind

tattoos. Most people see tattoos and automatically think of gangs, criminals, and bikers, this is

not true of all people that have tattoos. Tattoos have been found to be over 5000 years old

(unkown, 2010), most tattoos have a lot of meaning to the person that has them. There are many

diverse tattoos and they are as unique as the person wearing them. The word tattoo comes from

the Tahitian word “tatu”, this word means to mark something.

The oldest body in existence with tattoos is the ice man that has been dated back to 3300

– 3200 B.C. Before the iceman was found tattoos had only been dated back to the Egyptians

around 4,000 years ago, so this find has dated them even farther back by another 1,000 years.

The iceman was found in the alps between Austria and Italy, he was a perfectly preserved

remains and the tattoos that they found totaled 57 (unknown, 2010) and they believe that due to

the random places that they are located, they were used for therapeutic reasons.

Tattooing was originally only believed to be used by Egyptians because they have found

a few women mummies that have tattoos that are believed to protect the women during

pregnancy (unkown, 2008). Tattooing has thought to have been influenced by ancient tattoo

practices in Nubia. Though tattoos have only been found on women, it is believed that tattoos

were also on the men. The reason that they are thinking this is because of the Egyptian art that

shows tattoo type art on both men and women.

Many different cultures have been found to use tattooing for many different reasons,

some are to show that they have royalty in their blood, others are to show ownership or that they

are criminals in that society. One culture that has been using the same technique for over two

thousand years is the Samoans. In their society the tattoos have defined rank and title, such as
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chief that descend from notable families in the proper birth order (PBS, 2010). Tattoing

ceremonies for young men who would be chiefs typically started at puberty, and they were a key

part of their coming into a leadership role someday. For a young man to shy away from getting

their tattoo was a sign of them being a coward and they would be reviled by the clan.

Some cultures that use tattoos use their tattoos to show that they have a high rank in the

tribe or society. Many also used tattoos for punishment on criminals, they would put tattoos that

were very noticeable to any onlooker and they would know that that person is a criminal. There

are also cultures that use tattooing for marking prostitutes as well as many different manual

laborers. Scientists believe that some cultures also used tattooing for thereaputic reasons.

Some cultures use tattoos for showing that they are wealthy and of high status in the

community. One of the cultures that used tattooing was the Ainu and they had tattoos on the face

along with the back of their hands and arms. There were several reasons for the Ainu tattooing,

some were cosmetic purposes, tribal purposes, some were for sexual materity, others were for

religious purposes and adornment. Only the Ainu womens tattoos were mention it has been

reported that in some regions the men were tattooed as well (Yamada, n.d).

Young girls in the Ainu tribes were first tattooed at the ages of 10 to 13 years old, all

though there are some women who started their tattoos at the age of five or six years old. Most of

the Ainu womens tattoos were completed by the time they were able to get married. The Ainu

tattoos were related to the tribes clothing. The Ainu used tattooing as a way to show young girls

coming of ages place in society. They were also used to show the status of married women

( powerverbs, n.d).

In samoa the tradition of tattooing has been done by hand and has long been set by the

rank and title, with the chiefs and their assistants. CHeifs and their assistants descend from
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notable families and are in the proper birth order. The permanent marks left by the tafuga (which

is the samoan word for tattoo artist) would celebrate their endurance and dedication to the their

cultural traditions forever ( unkown, n.d).

Ancient Greece and rome used tattoos as a way to mark their slaves, as well as a

punishment for the criminals. They would tattoo the criminals with marks of their crime on the

hands and forehead so that everyone could see what they had done. They also used tattoos for

prisoners of war (unkown, 2008). Philosopher Bion of Borysthenes claimed that his father a

freed slave had numerous tattoos on his face and refered to it as “instead of a face, a document”,

he meant that his father had so many tattoos on his face that it was more like a document than a

face ( unkown, 2008).

Eventually the Christians who were tattooed under the Roman government and survived

were treated as heroes and were models of courage in Romania. Eventually the marks that were

used for punishment ended up being a mark of honor, glory and a win of gods power. The tattoos

eventually became less common as the jewish influence moved into the Roman government

(unknown, 2008).

Many people in the modern days have a stereotype that comes to mind when they see

tattoos or even hear about tattoos. Many people think of gangs, bikers and criminals when they

see tattoos or hear the word. That is not the case, not everyone that has a tattoo is in a gang or has

a biker association that goes with the tattoos. Tattoos are becoming more common on people for

many different reasons, some may be to memorialize a loved one that they lost. Most tattoos

show the individuals soul and that is something that a lot of people in society do not understand.

For years tattoos were associated with sailors as well they would come home from being

over seas and they would have tattoos that were not real elaborate. Most of the sailors in the old
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days that got tattoos, had two deminsional tattoos that made them more like cartoons than a

tattoo (unkown, 2008). Most sailors had tattoos of anchors, hearts or mermaids, but today they

have the army, navy or marinecore’s symbols tattooed on their arms.

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References

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American

Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Holybee, W. (2008, March 15). Retrieved March 15, 2008, from mailto://warren@holybee.net