Tattoo History

Ancient Marquesan Tattoo

Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice at least since Neolithic times. Otzi the Iceman, dating from the fourth to fifth millennium BCE, was found in the Ötz valley in the Alps and had approximately 57 carbon tattoos consisting of simple dots and lines on his lower spine, behind his left knee, and on his right ankle. Other mummies bearing tattoos and dating from the end of the second millennium BCE have been discovered atPazyryk on the Ukok Plateau. Japanese tattoos are thought to go back to the Paleolithic era, some ten thousand years ago. Various other cultures have had their own tattoo traditions, ranging from rubbing cuts and other wounds with ashes, to hand-pricking the skin to insert dyes.

Tattooing has been practiced worldwide. The Ainu people, the indigenous people of Japan, wore facial tattoos, as do some Maori of New Zealand to this day. Tattooing was widespread among Polynesian peoples and among certain tribal groups in the Philippines,Borneo, Mentawai Islands, Africa, North America, South America, Mesoamerica, Europe, Japan,Cambodia, New Zealand, Samoa and China.