History of Tattoos Essay

Categories: Tattoo

Tattoos are one of the many significant formations that took place in all of human antiquity. There are many claims that the earliest documentation of tattooed body art originated in Egypt, in the midst of the Egyptian Pyramid establishment. However, there are additional claims that declare tattoos existed long before then.

There is a plethora of adaptations about how tattooed body art came about. According to “Authority Tattoo,” the earliest evidence of tattoos is concluded to have originated around 3370 B.C, and 3100 B.

C. “Otzi, the Iceman,” was found in Europe in September of 1991. He is a mummified skeleton, known as the oldest mummy ever to be discovered. He was found in the Otzal Alps, and he was discovered with six tattoos, primarily on his legs. Another claim is, Borneo women, popularized tattoos in order to show off their skill set. Lastly, one of the most primal documentations being “King of Maquas,” of the Mohawk Tribe, as well as a pictograph of a “Seneca Trader,” in which displays symbolic tattoos of a bird and a snake.

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Even though, many different records state contrasting data, when it comes to the inception of tattoo history, as reported by “Powerverbs;” when the Egyptians began increasing their domain size, tattoos spread to places like Greece Arabia, and Persia, finally reaching China around 2000 B.C.

Tattoos were not always predominantly used for fashion. They were used as hieroglyphs among civilizations, like the Native Americans; but they were also used as a method of communication among Greek spies.

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Romans used tattoos as a way to label slaves and criminals. The Ainu People, who were derived from the Western Asia Region, had tattoos as a way to display social status; they were also credited for spreading the culture of tattooing to Japan. The Japanese began to use tattoos in the same way that the Romans did, which was to identify criminals. During this time in US History, the Aboriginals often had tattoos in order to tell stories about their spiritual beliefs, battles and victories. It was not until excursions led by James Cook, travelled down to the South Pacific to learn more about Polynesian fundamentals, in which they used tattoos to mark tribal communities, families and ranks. This even led to tattoos eventually becoming a fashion trend for the remainder of time during the Victorian Era; mostly by men, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century that woman actively involved themselves in the movement. According to Olivia Waxman of “Time,” At one point, tattoos were even used to treat pain. Native American women used tattooing as a remedy that aided in relieving tooth pains and arthritis

Conclusively, almost every culture in history has practiced doing tattoos. Derived from the Tahitian dialect, the work “Tatau,” literally means to “mark or strike,” it also refers to some of the more conventional ways of applying tattoos where ink is then “tapped” in to the skin with a piece of bone or stick. As time has gone on, many different cultures and their sectors embraced the art of tattooing, however, each method extensively observed in Japan was called “Bamboo Tattoo,” in which a bamboo stick was shaved down and formed into a circular shape. Then the bamboo was finished off with a dozen needles; more or less depending on the thickness of the lines. Another technique popular in the Southern Pacific regions, (Papua New Guinea and Samoa), was the “Rake and Striking Technique.” This method consisted of the artist stretching the person’s skin and then striking a sharpened rake, which is “attached to a long horizontal handle with a thick solid stick in order to put the rake into the stretched skin.” The “Metal Tube Technique,” was mostly ubiquitous in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand. The artist had a sharpened, hollowed out metal tube, dipped in ink and steadily pressed into the skin repeatedly. This method can be compared to that of a sewing machine. Finally yet importantly, the Western approach is the “tattoo machine,” where there is usually an electrified gun with needles attached.

Tattoos sparked an ancient and unique change in history, as they rose in meaning for different civilizations. They started off as ways of storytelling, to identification, all the way to fashion. Tattoos are one of the only things that existed for centuries that still exist now with very little adjustments. Throughout history, there have been many arguments as to why tattoos became as important to humans as they have. They have many uses, purposes and meanings and as inconsequential as they might seem; they really have changed history for an infinite amount of people.

Updated: May 03, 2022
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History of Tattoos Essay. (2021, Aug 03). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/history-of-tattoos-2-essay

History of Tattoos Essay essay
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