The Origin Of Tattoos

Dec 08, 2006 03:12:18

Believe it or not, some scientists say that certain marks on the skin of the Iceman, a mummified human body dating from about 3300 B.C., are tattoos. If that's true, these markings represent the earliest known evidence of the practice. Tattoo designs, styles, locations are as varied as there are people who display them. In the Uk lost of people I see with old tattoos are either military or prison tattoos though now I know a lot of younger people who's tattoos are as much art as anything else. In fact the Victoria & Albert Museum featured a body art exhibition not long ago that featured tattoo art. My personal favourites are tribal, celtic designs or dragons and fantasy creatures. Tattoos found on Egyptian and Nubian mummies date from about 2000 B.C., and classical authors mention the use of tattoos in connection with Greeks, ancient Germans, Gauls, Thracians and ancient Britons. Tattooing was rediscovered by Europeans when exploration brought them into contact with Polynesians and American Indians. The word tattoo comes from the Tahitian word tattau or possibly Maori - ta moko, which mean"to mark". Explorer James Cook mentions them in his records from his 1769 expedition to the South Pacific. Because tattoos were considered so exotic in European and U.S. societies, tattooed Indians and Polynesians drew crowds at circuses and fairs during the 18th and 19th centuries.