Tattoo History

Tattoos have been found on Egyptian and Nubian mummies dating from about 2000 BC. Their use is mentioned by classical authors in relation to the Thracians, Greeks, Gaul's, ancient Germans, and ancient Britons; the Romans tattooed criminals and slaves. After the advent of Christianity, tattooing was forbidden in Europe, but it persisted in the Middle East and in other parts of the world.

In the Americas, many Indian tribes customarily tattooed the body or the face, or both. The usual technique was simple pricking, but some California tribes introduced colour into scratches, and many tribes of the Arctic and Subarctic, most Eskimos, and some peoples of eastern Siberia made needle punctures through which a thread coated with pigment (usually soot) was drawn underneath the skin. In Polynesia, Micronesia, and parts of Malaysia, pigment was pricked into the skin by tapping on an implement shaped like a miniature rake. In moko, a type of Maori tattooing from New Zealand, shallow coloured grooves in complex curvilinear designs were produced on the face by striking a miniature bone adze into the skin. In Japan, needles set in a wooden handle are used to tattoo very elaborate multicoloured designs, in many cases covering much of the body. Burmese tattooing is done with a brass pen like implement with a slit point and a weight on the upper end. Sometimes pigment is rubbed into knife slashes (e.g., in Tunisia and among the Ainu of Japan and the Igbo [Ibo] of Nigeria), or the skin is punctured with thorns (Pima Indians of Arizona and Senoi of Malaya).

Tattooing was rediscovered by Europeans when the age of exploration brought them into contact with American Indians and Polynesians. The word tattoo itself was introduced into English and other European languages from Tahiti, where it was first recorded by James Cook's expedition in 1769. Tattooed Indians and Polynesians, and later Europeans tattooed abroad, attracted much interest at exhibits, fairs, and circuses in Europe and the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. Stimulated by Polynesian and Japanese examples, tattooing "parlours," where specialized "professors" applied designs on European and American sailors, sprang up in port cities all over the world. The first electric tattooing implement was patented in the United States in 1891. The United States became a centre of influence in tattoo designs, especially with the spread of U.S. tattooers' pattern sheets. The nautical, military, patriotic, romantic, and religious motifs are now similar in style and subject matter throughout the world; characteristic national styles of the early 20th century have generally disappeared.

In the 19th century, released U.S. convicts and British army deserters were identified by tattoos, and later the inmates of Siberian prisons and Nazi concentration camps were similarly marked. Members of 20th-century street or motorcycle gangs frequently identify themselves with a tattooed design. During the late 19th century, tattooing had a short vogue among both sexes in the English upper classes. Tattooing is moribund or extinct in most parts of the world, except for special medical applications and Euro American and Japanese types, which were the subjects of a renewal of interest in the 1990s. In recent times the practice had gained popularity with many cultures. You may find just about anyone from any walk of life may have a tattoo either hidden or in a prominent position.

Because of complaints by health authorities that contaminated tattooing needles spread infectious diseases, particularly hepatitis, the practice has been outlawed in some communities and restricted in other communities to persons over 18 years of age. Body paints and pictured adhesives, called skin transfers or decal tattoos, are easily removed and are much more common.

Methods of tattoo removal include dermabrasion, skin grafts or plastic surgery, and laser surgery. A laser beam can obliterate tattoos applied with a needle. All such methods may leave scars.