Tattooing: what the internet has taught me about the commitments people make with their skin...

I had never really thought about the history of the tattoo. It always seemed more like some modern day beauty accessory that couldn't possibly fit into the context of past cultures.

Well, it fits very nicely into over 5000 years of past cultures. Ötzi the Iceman, the oldest natural mummy, was discovered with 57 carbon tattoos (simple lines and dots) in places where it is thought he may have suffered from arthritis. Ötzi is 53 centuries old.

I feel foolish now for not considering the other reasons people mark their skin. The diversity of motivations is incredible (just FYI - a lot of the stuff I'm clumsily jotting down here can be expanded on, but I've just stuck to the bits that personally interest me):

• In ancient Egypt (as early as XI dynasty) women were marked with geometric patterns of lines and dots. It's believed these women were related to ritualistic practice.
• In Polynesia, it is believed that a person's spiritual power or life force is displayed through their tattoos.
• For Samoan people, tattooing begins at puberty for young chiefs and reflects rank and title.
• The Maori tattoo is called ta moko. Copying someone else's moko is considered identity theft.
• Kakau is the name of the traditional Hawaiian tattoo art. Kakau guarded health and spiritual well-being. Men were tattooed on their arms, legs, torso and face; women on the hand, fingers, wrists and sometimes on their tongue. This has nothing to do with tradition, but I completely randomly happen to be watching Miami Ink. Sunny Garcia (tip top Hawaiian surfer) just came in to get the Hawaiian islands tattooed down the side of his torso. Very cool.
• In India, monks are the tattoo artists. While inking the body they incorporate magical powers to the design. Women can not be included because they mustn't touch monks. More to the point, it's believed that women are strong enough as they are and don't need the extra magical boost.
• Tattoos were a punishment in ancient Greece and Rome; they were associated with criminals and slaves. According to Ephesus, slaves exported to Asia were marked with 'tax paid'. Capricious emperors such as Caligula and Theophilus ordered those who criticised them (uhhh or, you know, just random members of their courts) to be marked with, for example, obscene iambic pentameter. Constantine, 4th century Roman emperor, banned tattooing. He believed that the human face was an image of God and therefore couldn't be "disfigured or defiled".
• Mayan tattooing was a sign of courage according to 16th century Spanish accounts. The conquistadors were horrified to see the work of satan on the Mayans' bodies. For some reason that makes me chuckle.
• In North America inuit women's chins were tattooed to indicate marital status.
• Despite condemnatory passages in the old testament, M.W.Thomson, a biblical scholar, reckons Moses actually approved of tattoos - he supposedly introduced them as a way to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.
• In modern Japanese culture, the yakuza (mafia) have full-body tattoos that can take up to two years to complete. These are signs of initiation.

Maori:

1910:

1900-1910:

Japanese:

Alaska 1897:

Siberia 1901:

Cuna Indians:

Ainu Japanese:

Canada 1937:

DR Congo 1947:

New Zealand, 1935:

Hawaii:

picture sources include: national geographic, life magazine, larskrutak.com, designboom.com, history-nz.org, janesoceania, national library of new zealand

This post has gotten a little long so I'm going to continue in a second one, which will mostly feature European and North American tattoos from the 19th century onwards.