Do you like Tattoos? Then lets go & get to know about the History of TATTOO!

 

Tattooing has been practiced across the globe since at least Neolithic times, as evidenced by mummified preserved skin, ancient art and the archaeological record.

Both ancient art and archaeological finds of possible tattoo tools suggest tattooing was practiced by the Upper Paleolithic period in Europe & The oldest discovery of tattooed human skin to date is found on the body of OTZI the Iceman, dating to between 3370 and 3100 BC & His body has 61 tattoos. 

Otzi is believed to have been murdered, due to the discovery of an arrowhead embedded in his left shoulder and various other wounds. The nature of his life and the circumstances of his death are the subject of much investigation and speculation.

He is Europes oldest known natural human mummy, offering an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans. His body and belongings are displayed in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy. 

Ancient and traditional practices

Tattooing traditions, including facial tattooing, can be found among all Austronesian subgroups, including Taiwanese Aborigines, Islander Southeast Asians, Micronesians, Polynesians, and the Malagasy people. (In Simple words we can say the people used to tattoo to know the caste or identify the communities). For the most part Austronesians used characteristic perpendicularly hafted tattooing points that were tapped on the handle with a length of wood (called the "mallet") to drive the tattooing points into the skin. The handle and mallet were generally made of wood while the points, either single, grouped or arranged to form a comb were made of Citrus thorns, fish bone, bone, teeth and turtle and oyster shells.(Hand Poke Tattoos)

 Among other ethnolinguistic groups, tattooing was also practiced among the Ainu people of Japan, some Austroasians of Indochina, Berber women of Tamazgha (North Africa), the Yoruba, Fulani and Hausa people of Nigeria, Native Americans of the Pre-Columbian Americas, and the Welsh and Picts of Iron Age Britain.

Modern Western tattooing

British and other pilgrims to the Holy Lands throughout the 17th century were tattooed with the Jerusalem Cross to commemorate their voyages, including William Lithgow in 1612.

In 1691, William Dampier brought to London a Filipino man named Jeoly or Giolo from the island of Mindanao (Philippines) who had a tattooed body and became known as the "Painted Prince".

Tattooing spread among the upper classes all over Europe in the 19th century, but particularly in Britain where it was estimated in Harmsworth Magazine in 1898 that as many as one in five members of the gentry were tattooed. Taking their lead from the British Court, where George V followed Edward VII lead in getting tattooed; King Frederick IX of Denmark, the King of Romania, Kaiser Wilhelm II, King Alexander of Yugoslavia and even Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, all sported tattoos, many of them elaborate and ornate renditions of the Royal Coat of Arms or the Royal Family Crest. King Alfonso XIII of modern Spain also had a tattoo.

 

"Reintroduction" to the Western world (1770s - 1860s)

The popularity of modern Western tattooing owes its origins in large part to Captain James Cooks voyages to the South Pacific in the 1770s, but since the 1950s a false belief has persisted that modern Western tattooing originated exclusively from these voyages.

The first documented professional tattooer in the United States was Martin Hildebrandt, a German immigrant who arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in 1846.

Between 1861 and 1865, he tattooed soldiers on both sides in the American Civil War. The first documented professional tattooist (with a permanent studio, working on members of the paying public) in Britain was Sutherland Macdonald in the early 1880s. Tattooing was an expensive and painful process and by the late 1880s had become a mark of wealth for the crowned heads of Europe.

 

First Electric Tattoo Machine 

In 1891, New York City tattooer Samuel OReilly patented the first electric tattoo machine, a modification of Thomas Edisons electric pen.

The Tattoo Renaissance

Tattooing has steadily increased in popularity since the invention of the electric tattoo machine. In 1936, 1 in 10 Americans had a tattoo of some form. In the late 1950s, Tattoos were greatly influenced by several artists in particular Lyle Tuttle, Cliff Raven, Don Nolan, Zeke Owens, Spider Webb and Don Ed Hardy. A second generation of artists, trained by the first, continued these traditions into the 1970s, and included artists such as Bob Roberts, Jamie Summers, and Jack Rudy.

Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of global and Western fashion, common among both sexes, to all economic classes, and to age groups from the later teen years to middle age.

 

Boarding School Tattooing Practices

Tattooing in the federal Indian boarding school system was commonly practiced during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Such tattoos often took the form of small markings or initials and were often used as a form of resistance; a way to reclaim one’s body.

Due to the forced assimilation practices of the Western boarding schools, many indigenous cultural practices were on a severe decline, tattooing being one of them. As a way to retain their cultural heritage some students practiced this ritual and tattooed themselves with found materials like sewing needles and India Ink.

Within the schools, the authorities physically labeled the students: “a personal identification number was written in purple ink on their wrists and on the small cupboard in which their few belongings were stored.”

Oftentimes the students had a tendency to tattoo their initials on this very spot; the exact place where the school authorities first marked them. This can be seen as a strong act of resistance where the students were physically rejecting their numerical ID, and reclaiming their own body and identity.

 

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