The History of Tattoos
Tattoos have been documented as far back as 5,000 years. The word tattoo was derived from the Tahitian word “tatau,” which means to mark something. Tattoos have a long history of being taboo in many societies, while in other societies they are a mark of distinction. The tattooing process remains unchanged over the years. It is done by placing colored material under the surface of the skin.
In 1991 a Bronze Age man, known as Otzi the Iceman, was discovered frozen on a mountain on the Austrian and Italian border. Upon examination, it was found that the iceman was tattooed. The scientists discovered 57 tattoos on his body. On the inside of his left knee there is a cross tattooed. Above his kidneys there were six straight lines, as well as numerous lines above his ankles. Scientists believe, by the location of the tattoos, they were therapeutic, and they would help with arthritis pain. In 1948, in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, an archaeologist was studying tombs that were around 2500 years old, when he discovered that the mummies were tattooed. They ranged from griffins to real animal depictions. These skin markings are the oldest known tattoos that were strictly for decoration of the body and are believed to mark the rank of the wearer in their culture. The Egyptians were also believed to help spread tattooing around much of the ancient world. The earliest example of Egyptian tattooing was discovered on the body of a priestess who lived from around 2600 to 1994 BC.
She had several groupings of dots that formed geometrical shapes around her body. These tattoos were restricted to female bodies only and were associated with ritualistic practices. By 2000 BC, the third and fourth pyramid-building dynasties had spread the practice of tattooing all the way to Southeast Asia. From there it spread to Japan by way of the Ainu, as Asian nomadic tribe. So as these examples show, tattooing has been around for a very long time.
Among the more well-known tattooed people of the ancient world, the Maori tribes of New Zealand are known for their elaborate body covering tattoos. The name Maori originally meant “the original people”. The Maori call their facial tattoos “moko” meaning “the product” and reflected their artistic culture. They were master wood carvers and moved into the carving of human skin. The full-faced “moko” was a mark of distinction.
The tattoos marked their status within the tribe; they also showed their tribal affiliations, as well as showing their ancestral line of descent. They were also badges of honor, so to speak, as they showed exploits in battle as well as other major events in the wearer’s life. According to archaeological evidence, tattooing came to the Maori from Eastern Polynesian culture. The tattooists were called “tohunga-ta-oko”. Tattooing began when the youth reached puberty and was accompanied by many rites of passage. During the process sexual intimacy and the eating of solid food was prohibited. To keep the youth from starvation food would be pulverized and the fluids, as well as water, were poured into a wooden funnel. This also prevented contact with the open wounds on the face thus helping keep the risk of infection down. This was also the only way the tattooed person could eat due to the swelling of the face. The tattooing instrument was a bone chisel. Some of the chisels were serrated on the edge while others were smooth and extremely sharp. The first step was the engraving of the design into the skin. This was only started after the tattooist had studied the face and bone structure of the warrior or woman being tattooed. Next the chisel was dipped into the pigment which was generally made from ashes from burnt Kauri sap, vegetable matter, and caterpillars, then tapped into the skin. This was a very painful ordeal for the person receiving the tattoo.
In Indonesia, where the inland tribes have only recently come into contact with the outside world (some as late at the 1960’s), the ancient art is still performed today, much the same as it has for thousands of years. The artwork is tapped into the skin with bone needles dipped into ashes from a sacred fire. The “needles” are actually pieces of boars tusk and tied to a piece of tortoise shell to make up to 20 individual tips, these are dipped into a mixture of ashes and saliva.
Here in North America, the art of tattooing has been around for a long time also. To Native Americans the tattoo meant many different things to the different tribes. Many used tattoos to distinguish what tribe they were from and from what region they inhabited. Many of the Native American tattoos held mystical powers and spiritual meanings. It was believed the tattoos help powers for the wearer. Many Native Americans took tattoos of animals, objects, and even images of gods that they wanted to gain power and strength from. The Lakota men and women took tattoos to be able to enter the after-life; they believed their ancestors would not allow them to enter without a tattoo. It took great amounts of skill with both the needle and healing herbs for the Natives to perform a tattoo.
The women of the Inuit tribe, also known as Eskimos, tattooed their chins to show their marital status and group identities. The tribes of the Pacific Northwest used sowing awls and sinew thread to apply tattoos. They would pull the tread, which was soaked in the dye materials, through the skin using the awl. Theses were very painful tattooing procedures.
English explorers often returned home with natives from the Pacific islands. They displayed the tattooed tribesmen at museums and sideshows so as to show how much more advanced in civilization they were to the tattooed natives.
The first known, European, use of the word “tattoo” was used by the naturalist, Joseph Banks. He was employed as a naturalist aboard Captain James Cook’s ship the Endeavor in 1767. It was here he wrote in his diary describing the art on the faces of the Maori they had encountered on an exploration voyage to New Zealand. He was quoted as stating, “I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition.”
There were many ways of introducing the “ink” into the skin around the world. The Maori, with their famous designs on their faces and buttocks, used a bone carving tool. This was the same tool that they carved their wood with. They would carve shallow grooves into the body and face in the intricate designs of the “moko” style. After the arrival of the Europeans the Maori began using steel that they received from the visitors for a more conventional style of puncture tattooing. Many of the tribes in North and South America would introduce the “ink” by pricking the skin with bone awls, while some tribes in North America would scratch the design into the skin and then rub pigment into the open wound.
The tribes of the Arctic and sub-Arctic would push needles and thread covered in the “ink” through the chin of women, thus, putting the pigment in to skin. While in Polynesia and Micronesia, the pigment was entered into the skin with a bamboo needle set-up that looks like a small rake and tapped into the skin using a tatau stick. It was not until 1846 that a “modern” tattoo shop was opened in New York City; it started the tradition of servicemen getting tattooed. But, it would not be until 1891 that Samuel O’Reilly invented the first electric tattoo machine.
The tattoo has had many different uses and reasoning behind its application. In Borneo, for example, women wore tattoos on their forearms that told what they were most skilled at. The tribes that were found in the Alps during the Bronze Age used tattoos around their fingers and wrist to ward away illness. They have been worn for identification of a person’s affiliation with a certain group or tribe. Many tribes used animal images to invoke the spirit of that animal into the wearer. The Greeks used tattoos to identify spies. The Romans used tattoos to mark criminals and slaves. The Ainu, a Polynesian tribe that migrated to Japan have been credited with the introduction of tattoos to the island where it soon developed into a ceremonial and religious experience. Kayan women, of Thailand, were tattooed in a way that made their hands look as though they were covered in delicate lace. These women are now known for their stretched necks and the metal coils used to support their heads.
During the age of recorded history, tattoos have been used in many ceremonies. The early Britons used tattoos in ceremony. The Norse, Danes, and Saxons tattooed their family crests upon the members of their clans, this is still practiced today. In 1789 the first ban on tattooing was issued by Pope Hadrin. Tattooing thrived in Britain until the Norman invasion of 1066, the Normans despised tattoos and it disappeared from Western culture from the 12th until the 16th century.
While tattooing disappeared in the west, it thrived in the Far East. (2008). Ancient Web. Retrieved from http://www.theancientweb.com/explore/content.aspx?content_id=8
In 1691 tattooing returned to the western culture. Its reintroduction is credited to a sailor and explorer who traveled the South Pacific. When he would return from a voyage, the people would gather around to look at the art and artifacts he would bring back. He brought back from one of his voyages, a heavily-tattooed Polynesian man by the name of Prince Giolo. He became known as the Painted Prince. He was used as a money-making attraction that became the rage in London.
In the late 1700’s, Captain James Cook began making voyages of exploration to the South Pacific.
But due to the slow and painstaking procedures of the time, widespread tattooing could not take hold. Then, in 1891, an inventor by the name of Samuel O’Reilly invented the electric tattoo machine. The machine was based on the electric pen invented by Thomas Edison. The electric pen punctured paper with a small needle and placed ink in the punctured spot. This basic design is the same with today’s modern tattoo machine. It consists of moving coils, a tube, and a needle-bar. This invention made it possible for anyone to receive a reasonably priced and readily available tattoo. This brought about the upper-class shunning the tattoo. No longer was a tattoo an overpriced luxury that only they could afford.
By 1900, tattoos had lost their credibility and began to become taboo in mainstream America. They had become things that only sailors and trashy people had. The stigma is only now beginning to fade. Tattoo parlors that were once only found on the “wrong” side of town are now beginning to open up in some of ”the classier” sides of town. There is even a shop in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Tattoo artists at the time were working in the shady areas of towns. There were no schools to teach the art and it was hard to get an artist of the time to take someone into the underground society of artists and teach them.
The so-called birthplace of American tattooing is considered to be Chatham Square in New York City. It was a seaport and the Bostonian inventor of the tattoo machine, Samuel O’Reilly, set up shop there. There he took on an apprentice, a young man by the name of Charlie Wagner. When O’Reilly died in 1908, Charlie opened a tattoo supply business with Lew Alberts. Alberts had been a wallpaper designer and transferred these skills to the art of flash drawings (the drawings that adorn the walls of most tattoo shops).
Tattooing was once again on the decline in the U.S., except in Chatham Square, where artists were tattooing their wives as sort of free, live, walking billboards. They were showing off their husband’s talents as they went about their daily routines. It was about this time that cosmetic tattooing began to gain in popularity. The artist could apply blush on the cheeks, lip coloring, and eyeliner. But with the beginning of World War I, the old tattoos of birds and such changed to more patriotic themes which showed bravery and war-like images.
In the 1920’s, with Prohibition, Chatham Square lost its appeal and the tattoo industry moved to Coney Island. All across America, shops began to spring up in military towns, especially near naval bases. Sailors began collecting tattoos that told of their travels and ports of call. You could literally tell where a sailor had traveled by looking at his tattoos.
After the end of World War II tattoos once again were associated with the lower-class citizens. They were thought of as belonging to the Marlon Brando type bikers and juvenile delinquents. Then came 1961 and the great hepatitis outbreak. This sent the tattoo world reeling on its heels. Newspapers began reporting on the horrible health conditions in the shops. While most shops had a sterilization machine, most were not using them. But in the late 1960’s a charismatic artist, Lyle Tuttle, came along. He was skilled at using the news media. He used this skill to teach the owners of the shops the need for cleanliness. How they could get the industry back in shape by cleaning up the shops. This helped to get the general public to see that tattoos could be safe. Soon the doors on the New York shops were opened up again.
Today, tattooing is seeing another upswing. Tattoos are seen now everywhere you go. They are on the ankles of young college girls and on the arms and shoulders of men anywhere you look. Tattoos represent a person’s taste in art or have a deep meaning to the collector. If you look closely at a Japanese body suit, you will see an artistic expression of color and beauty. Tattoos can also have religious meanings to the collector. There are many tattoos that represent every deity imaginable. People get tattooed to show their ancestral heritage, such as Native American symbols and Celtic knots. There is no limit to what can be seen on the bodies of the millions of people who are tattooed.
If you are planning to get your first tattoo, spend some time thinking. You need to be sure that the image you choose is something you will still want 10 years down the road. Tattoos are a permanent marking of who you are. You don’t want to go into a shop and pay a couple hundred dollars for a Taz on your arm and grow up regretting that cartoon on your arm. Also, be sure to select a reputable artist. If the guy is offering a cheap tattoo, he is offering a bad tattoo. Ask people who have tattoos that you like, they will be happy to tell you who their artist is. Hey, you never know; I started out with one and now have over 100 on my arms alone. It can become very addicting so always find a good artist who will help you pick the right design for you. As I always say, “THINK BEFORE YOU INK.” You do not want to carry a bad tattoo around on your body.
References: Photographs
(n.d.). Native-net.org. Retrieved from http://native-net.org
(n.d.). lucidcafe.com. Retrieved from http://www.lucidcafe.com
PBS. (2003). pbs.org. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/skinstories/history/index.html
(1998). Tattoo History Ancient Eygpt. Retrieved from http://whitton.members.atlantic.net/body/tattoo_history.htm
(n.d.). Japanese Body Suit. Retrieved from http://japanese-tattoo.net/
References: Text
(2010). Vanishing Tattoo. Retrieved from http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_museum/arctic_alaskan_tattoos.html
(2010). Vanishing Tattoo. Retrieved from http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_museum/polynesian_tattoos.html
2010). Vanishing Tattoo. Retrieved from http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_museum/maori_tattoos.html
Lineberry, C. (2007). Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/10023606.html
(n.d.). The Tattoo Collection. Retrieved from http://www.thetattoocollection.com/history_of_tattoos.htm
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