When Did Tattooing Start?
The origins of tattoos date back further than you may think.
The oldest tattoos discovered on mummies tell us that tattooing has been around since around 3200 BCE. These remains and evidence of tattoos have been found all over the world across vastly different cultures.
“Locations, where ancient tattoos have been recorded on human remains, include: Alaska, Mongolia, Greenland, Egypt, China, Sudan, Russia, and the Philippines. All of these discoveries link to different periods of time throughout ancient history.”
Testing on the remains shows that the pigment was likely soot or ashes from fireplaces. All of these tattoos would have been created by extremely meticulous hands.
Some individuals continue to use these methods for traditional tattooing today as a way to keep alive this aspect of their heritage and culture.
However, tattoos were also highly stigmatized then as well. In Asian and Chinese cultures around 1000–500 BCE, when scientists date tattoos for this region, tattoos were a mark of deviance or delinquency.
“Ancient Chinese literature refers to folk heroes and bandits as having tattoos. It is also thought to have been fairly common for convicted criminals to be branded with a tattoo on their face. This tattoo was used to warn other members of society that this person could not be trusted.”
But the tradition of tattooing in ancient Egypt is thought to have been for decorative purposes like in our society today. Some researchers even speculate they may have been used as medical treatment.
Other cultures see tattoos differently. Tattoos in Samoa have been a long practice of believed to be around 2,000 years.
“It is believed that the modern-day English word ‘tattoo’ may have originated from the Samoan word for tattoo ‘tatau’.”
These tattoos were often used to mark a role of leadership and would be done in tattooing ceremonies.
All of these tattoos would be done by hand and over a great length of time. Methods range to tapping the ink into the skin with two sticks, one having the point where the soot would be. Another method was to rhythmically push the “ink” into the skin with just the pointed wood.
Tattooing has always been a mix of art, stigma, and honor. We have changed how we tattoo and the ink we use, but the different ways we see tattoos have barely changed over thousands of years.
~Ali
