Tattoo

Tattoos | History| Smithsonian Magazine

The tattooed right hand of a Chiribaya mummy

The tattooed right hand of a Chiribaya mummy is displayed at El Algarrobal Museum, near the port of Ilo in southern Peru. The Chiribaya were farmers who lived from A.D. 900 to 1350. Joann Fletcher

Humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years. These permanent designs—sometimes plain, sometimes elaborate, always personal—have served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment. Joann Fletcher, research fellow in the department of archaeology at the University of York in Britain, describes the history of tattoos and their cultural significance to people around the world, from the famous ” Iceman,” a 5,200-year-old frozen mummy, to today’s Maori.

what is the oldest evidence of tattoos?

In terms of tattoos on real bodies, the earliest known examples were long Egyptian and were present on various female mummies dating to c. 2000 BC but after the most recent discovery of the iceman from the italo-austrian border area in 1991 and his tattoo patterns, this date was pushed back a further thousand years when it was carbon dated to around 5200 years.

can you describe the iceman tattoos and their meaning?

after discussions with my colleague professor don brothwell of york university, one of the specialists who examined it, the distribution of the tattooed dots and small crosses on the lower spine and on the joints of the right knee and ankle correspond to areas of stress-induced degeneration, with the suggestion that they may have been applied to relieve joint pain and were therefore essentially therapeutic. this would also explain their somewhat “random” distribution in areas of the body that would not have been as easy to show had they been applied as a form of status marker.

What is the evidence that ancient Egyptians had tattoos?

There is certainly evidence that women had tattoos on their figurine bodies and limbs c. 4000-3500 BC to occasional female figures depicted in tomb scenes c. 1200 BC and in figurine form c. 1300 BC, all with tattoos on their thighs. Small bronze implements identified as tattooing tools were also discovered at the site of the city of Gurob in northern Egypt and dated to c. 1450 BC and then, of course, there are the tattooed mummies, of the three women already mentioned and dated to c. 2000 BC to several later examples of female mummies with these forms of permanent markings found in Greco-Roman burials at Akhmim.

What function did these tattoos fulfill? who received them and why?

Because this seemed to be an exclusively female practice in ancient Egypt, mummies found with tattoos were generally discarded by (male) excavators who seemed to assume that women had a “dubious status”, described in some cases as “ballerinas”. .” however, the female mummies had been buried at deir el-bahari (opposite modern luxor) in an area associated with royal and elite burials, and we know that at least one of the women described as “probably a royal concubine” she was actually a high priestess of state called an amunet, as her funerary inscriptions reveal.

And although for a long time it was assumed that such tattoos were the mark of prostitutes or intended to protect women against sexually transmitted diseases, I personally believe that the tattoo of ancient Egyptian women had a therapeutic role and it worked as a permanent form. of amulet during the very difficult time of pregnancy and childbirth. this is supported by the pattern of distribution, largely around the abdomen, upper thighs and breasts, and would also explain the specific types of designs, in particular the web-like distribution of dots applied over the abdomen . during pregnancy, this specific pattern would protectively expand in much the same way that bead nets were placed over wrapped mummies to protect them and “keep everything in.” The placement of small figures of the household deity Bes on their upper thighs would again suggest the use of tattoos as a means of safeguarding royal birth, as Bes was the protector of women in labour, and his position in the upper part of the thighs a suitable place. this would ultimately explain that tattoos are a purely feminine custom.

Who did the tattoos?

although we have no explicit written evidence in the case of ancient egypt, it may well be that the older women of a community created the tattoos for the younger women, as it was in 19th century egypt and is in some parts of the world today.

What instruments did they use?

An implement best described as a sharp point set in a wooden handle, dated to c. 3,000 before Christ. and discovered by archaeologist w.m.f. petrie at the abydos site may have been used to create tattoos. Petrie also found the aforementioned set of small bronze implements c. 1450 BC c., resembling broad, flattened needles, at the site of the ancient city of Gurob. if joined in a heap, they would provide repeating patterns of multiple dots.

These instruments are also remarkably similar to the much later tattoo implements used in 19th century Egypt. English writer William Lane (1801-1876) observed, “The operation is performed with several needles (usually seven) tied together: with these the skin is pricked in a desired pattern: a bit of black smoke (from wood or oil), mixed with then a woman’s breast milk is smeared….it is usually done at the age of about 5 or 6 years, and by gypsies.”

What were these tattoos like?

Most mummy examples are largely dotted line patterns and diamond patterns, while figurines sometimes feature more naturalistic imagery. tattoos occasionally found in tomb scenes and on small female figures that are part of cosmetic items also have small figures of the dwarf god on the thigh area.

what were they made of? How many colors were used?

Usually a dark or black pigment, such as soot, was introduced into the punctured skin. it appears that the brighter colors were used heavily in other ancient cultures, such as the Inuit, who are believed to have used a yellow color along with the more usual darker pigments.

what has surprised you the most about ancient egyptian tattoos?

which seems to have been restricted to women during the purely dynastic period, i.e. before 332 BC. also the way in which you can see that some of the designs are very well placed, once accepted they were used as a means of safeguarding women during pregnancy and childbirth.

Can you describe the tattoos used in other ancient cultures and how they differ?

Among the many ancient cultures that appear to have used tattoos as a permanent form of body adornment, the Nubians of southern Egypt are known to have used them. The mummified remains of women from the C group indigenous culture found in cemeteries near Kubban c. 2000-15000 BC they were found to have blue tattoos, which in at least one case featured the same arrangement of dots on the abdomen seen on the aforementioned female mummies from deir el-bahari. the ancient Egyptians also represented the male leaders of neighboring Libyans c. 1300-1100 BC with clear and quite geometric tattoo marks on their arms and legs and depicted them in scenes from Egyptian tombs, temples and palaces.

The Pazyryk Scythians of the Altai Mountains were another ancient culture that used tattoos. In 1948, the body of a 2,400-year-old Scythian man was discovered preserved in ice in Siberia, his limbs and torso covered in ornate tattoos of mythical animals. Then, in 1993, a woman with tattoos, again of mythical creatures on her shoulders, wrists and thumb and of a similar date, was found in a tomb in Altai. the practice is also confirmed by the Greek writer Herodotus c. 450 BC, who stated that among the Scythians and Thracians “tattoos were a mark of nobility, and not having them was testimony to low birth.”

Accounts of the ancient Britons also suggest that they too were tattooed as a mark of high status, and with “various forms of beasts” tattooed on their bodies, the Romans called a northern tribe “picti”, literally ” the painted people. “

However, among the Greeks and Romans, the use of tattoos, or “stigmata” as they were then called, appears to have been used largely as a means of marking someone as “belonging” to a religious sect or to an owner in the case of slaves or even as a punitive measure to mark them as criminals. It is therefore quite intriguing that during Ptolemaic times, when a dynasty of Macedonian Greek monarchs ruled Egypt, the pharaoh himself, Ptolemy IV (221-205 BC), was said to have tattooed himself with ivy leaves to symbolize his devotion to Egypt. Dionysus, the Greek god. of wine and the patron deity of the royal household at the time. The fashion was also adopted by Roman soldiers and spread throughout the Roman Empire until the rise of Christianity, when tattoos were considered to “disfigure that which was made in the image of God” and were therefore banned by the Emperor Constantine (306-373 AD).

We have also examined tattoos on mummified remains from some of the ancient pre-Columbian cultures of Peru and Chile, which often reproduce the same highly ornate images of stylized animals and a wide variety of symbols found in their clothing and textile designs. ceramics. An impressive female figurine from the Naszca culture has what appears to be a huge tattoo around the lower torso, stretching across the abdomen and extending to the genitals and presumably once again alluding to regions associated with the birth. later, in the mummified remains that have survived, tattoos were noted on torsos, limbs, hands, fingers and thumbs, and facial tattooing was sometimes practiced.

With extensive facial and body tattoos used among Native Americans, as believed, the mummified bodies of a group of six Inuit women from Greenland c. ad. 1475 also revealed evidence of facial tattoos. infrared examination revealed that five of the women had been tattooed in a line extending over the eyebrows, along the cheeks and, in some cases, with a series of lines on the chin. in st. lawrence island in the bering sea, his tattoos of dots, lines and hearts confined to the arms and hands.

Evidence of tattoos is also found among some of the ancient mummies found in China’s Taklamakan Desert c. 1200 BC, although during the later Han dynasty (202 BC-220 AD), it seems that only criminals were tattooed.

Japanese men began adorning their bodies with elaborate tattoos in late A.D. 3rd century.

The elaborate tattoos of Polynesian cultures are believed to have developed over millennia, featuring highly elaborate geometric designs, which in many cases can cover the entire body. After James Cook’s British expedition to Tahiti in 1769, the islanders’ term “tatatau” or “tattau”, meaning to strike or strike, gave the West our modern term “tattoo”. the brands then became fashionable among Europeans, particularly in the case of men such as sailors and coal miners, both professions that carried serious risks and that presumably explain the almost amulet use of anchors or miner’s lamp tattoos in the men’s forearms.

what about modern tattoos outside the western world?

Modern Japanese tattoos are true works of art, with many modern practitioners, while highly skilled tattoo artists from Samoa continue to create their art as it was done in ancient times, before the invention of modern tattoo equipment. Various cultures in Africa also employ tattoos, including the fine dots on the faces of Berber women in Algeria, the elaborate facial tattoos of Wodabe men in Niger, and the small crosses on the inner forearms that mark Christian Copts of egypt.

What do Maori facial designs represent?

in new zealand maori culture, the head was considered the most important part of the body, with the face adorned with incredibly elaborate tattoos or ‘moko’, which were considered marks of high status. Each tattoo design was unique to that individual, and since it conveyed specific information about their status, rank, ancestry, and abilities, it has been accurately described as a form of identification card or passport, a kind of aesthetic barcode for the tattoo. expensive. after using sharp bone chisels to cut the designs into the skin, a soot-based pigment was applied to the open wounds, which were then healed to seal the design. With warrior tattoos done at various stages of their lives as a kind of rite of passage, the decorations were seen to enhance their features and make them more attractive to the opposite sex.

Although Maori women also tattooed their faces, the markings tended to be concentrated around the nose and lips. although Christian missionaries tried to stop the procedure, women maintained that tattoos around the mouth and chin kept the skin from wrinkling and kept them young; the practice apparently continued into the 1970s.

Why do you think so many cultures have marked the human body and their practices have influenced each other?

In many cases, it seems to have arisen independently as a permanent way of placing protective or therapeutic symbols on the body, then as a means of classifying people into appropriate social, political, or religious groups, or simply as a way of self-expression or fashion statement.

However, as in so many other areas of adornment, there were, of course, cross-cultural influences, such as those between the Egyptians and the Nubians, the Thracians and the Greeks, and the many cultures encountered by Roman soldiers during expansion of the Roman Empire in the last centuries B.C. and the first centuries AD and certainly Polynesian culture is believed to have influenced Maori tattoos.

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