Tattoo culture is rapidly soaring, with more and more people interested in knowing about it. There’s no modern thing about tattoos; for thousands of years, people have been inking their skin with them. When did tattoos start?
Ancient Traditions of Tattooing
The oldest source of tattooing is Ötzi the Iceman. He is a naturally mummified man trapped in the Alps, believed to have lived around 3300 BCE. His body exhibited more than 60 carbon-based tattoos- mostly simple lines and dots along the spine, on the knees, and the ankles. While some researchers have suggested that these marks may have had therapeutic or symbolic properties, they were probably very similar to acupuncture.
Tattoos were not an exception in Ötzi’s culture. Across the globe, ancient civilizations developed their very own tattoo customs for spiritual, tribal, and aesthetic reasons.
Tattoos as a Cultural Phenomenon
- Egypt: 2000 BCE, tattoos were generally subject for women. These may have been fertility, guardian, or prestige attributes.
- Polynesia: The name for tattoo comes from the Polynesian tau, which means to make marks on the body in their culture. Tattoos preserved cultural meanings regarding parental descent, courage, and social standing in the Polynesian culture.
- Japan: Japanese tattooing or irezumi is characterized by an old, elaborate history. In earlier times, tattoos were spiritual symbols. Later, individuals were assigned tattoos to mark criminals, but tradition evolved into a highly regarded form of art that has a lot of color, symbolic significance, and detail.
- Native America: Many indigenous tribes use tattoos in rites of passage or as indicators of strength or spiritual protection.
Modern Tattooing
Samuel O’Reilly patented a tattoo machine in 1891, making the first electric tattooing device. This invention threw open tattooing into enormous differences, from speedier and more precise work to rapid growth of tattoo parlors in an increasingly wide area of Western cities. And then tattoos left rebellion and taboo; nowadays, they have become quite celebrated as a form of self-expression.
Today, tattoos are donned by all sorts of folks. From very touching memorials to technically full-bodied pieces of art, tattooing has never been as varied and accepted as now. Every time we do artwork at Black Amethyst Tattoo Gallery, we take pride in this glorious history. Tattoos may have ancient seeds, but the fiery inspiration behind them is timeless.
This post was written by J Michael Taylor. J Michael Taylor is an artist and the owner of Black Amethyst Tattoo Gallery. Looking for Tattoo shops in St Petersburg, Florida? Black Amethyst has you covered! They provide an art-first approach to custom tattooing in a gallery setting.