A tattoo is a permanent design marked on the skin by pricking in ink. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, but tattoos on animals are most often used for identification.
Cavemen had tattoos. Ötzi the Iceman from 3250 B.C. had 61 tattoos across his body.
HISTORY
Cavemen had tattoos. Ötzi the Iceman from 3250 B.C. had 61 tattoos across his body.
In 2017, archaeologists unearthed an ancient tattoo kit in Tennessee that is believed to be about 5,000 years old. The kit consists of sharpened turkey bones that were stained with pigment, along with half-shells that were likely used to hold ink. This discovery is significant because it provides the earliest evidence of tattooing in North America.
The tattoo kit was found in a burial mound that belonged to the Mississippian culture, a Native American civilization that thrived in the region from approximately 800 to 1600 CE. The Mississippian people were known for their complex social organization, elaborate architecture, and artistic traditions. They also practiced tattooing, as evidenced by the discovery of this kit.
The tattoo kit is made up of four sharpened turkey bones, two of which have pigment residues on their tips. The pigment is a mixture of red and black ochre, which are minerals that have been used for centuries for their decorative and symbolic purposes. The half-shells are likely to have been used to hold the ink, which would have been applied to the skin using the sharpened turkey bones.
Ancient (pre-Christian) Egyptian tattooing can be definitively traced back to 2000 B.C. Recent archaeology indicates however that the ancient Egyptians tattooing was limited to women. Evidence suggests that tattooing the body parts of women associated with fertility (breasts, thighs and abdomen) was believed to be a good luck charm to protect the birthing process.
Cattle branding was practiced 4,000 years ago. Old tomb paintings show Egyptians branding their fat, spotted cattle.
Tattoos have also been found on mummies from other ancient civilizations throughout the world, including Nubia the Pazyryk culture of Russia, and from several cultures throughout South America.
The ‘Princess of Ukok’ is the mummy of a young woman found in 1993 in Altai, who is believed to have been a spiritual leader of the nomadic Pazyryk people from 2500 years ago. Hers is one of the best preserved ancient tattoos.
 |
| The ‘Princess of Ukok’ |
In the Roman Empire, tattooing was a degrading practice used to brand slaves and criminals, and was also sometimes used in pagan religious rites whereby someone became the "slave" of a god.
In the fourth century A.D., the Montanists, a Christian sect relying heavily on the Book of Revelation, began tattooing themselves as "slaves of God" (Revelation. 7:2-3).
Many Coptic Christians in Egypt have a cross tattoo in their right wrist to differ them from the Muslims. The earliest evidence of Coptic tattooing goes back to the eighth-century, when Egyptian monks began to brand their hands with Christian symbols. Some scholars believe they learned the practice from Ethiopian Christians, who branded crosses on their foreheads, temples, and wrists.
The word "tattoo" did not enter into the English language until Westerners first had contact with American Indians and Polynesians during the 1700s. Captain James Cook reported that he had seen tattooing being done when he was in Tahiti in 1769.
The noun and verb "Tattoo", first used in 1769, is from a Polynesian noun (such as Tahitian and Samoan tatau, Marquesan tatu "puncture, mark made on skin").
 |
| A Māori chief with tattoos (moko) seen by Cook and his crew |
In the late 1820's, James F O'Connell was shipwrecked on Pohnpei, one of the Caroline Islands in the South Pacific. He saved himself from death at the hands of the Ponapeans natives by performing a series of Irish jigs for their amusement. Though his life was spared, the locals coerced him into getting tattooed head to toe by the locals. When O'Connell was eventually rescued, he joined PT Barnum's Circus as "The Tattooed Irishman" and became the world's first tattooed showman.
A swallow tattoo was popular with 19th century sailors who, traditionally, were permitted to adorn themselves with one after sailing 5,000 nautical miles and a second after 10,000 nautical miles.
9 out of 10 Navy sailors had tattoos in the late 1800s. A pig on one foot and a rooster on the other were believed to protect them from drowning.
The stereotypical anchor tattoo indicated a sailor had crossed the Atlantic.
On a visit to the Holy Land in 1862, Queen Victoria's son Albert, Prince of Wales - later King Edward VII - had a Jerusalem Cross tattooed on his arm. it started a trend, with 100,000 Britons said to have got their own inkings.
Until 1879 soldiers in the British Army guilty of bad conduct were tattooed with the initials BC.
The first recorded professional tattoo artist in the United States was a German immigrant, Martin Hildebrandt. He opened a shop in New York City in 1846.
The electric pen, invented by Thomas Edison in 1875, was converted into the first electric tattoo needle by Samuel O'Reilly in the 1890s.
Jessie Knight was the UK's first prominent female tattoo artist. She began her tattooing career in 1921 in Barry, South Wales, having learnt how to tattoo from her father. Knight was also a star circus sharpshooter who shot her abusive ex-husband.
The US Navy used to forbid "obscene" tattoos, which led to a boom in tattoos of nude women among men who didn't want to serve. If they joined the navy later, they had to have a tattoo artist "dress" the woman.
It was illegal to get a tattoo in New York City between 1961 and 1997, which forced tattoo artists to operate on an underground basis.
Tattooing was illegal in South Carolina until 2004.
Below is an 1888 Japanese woodblock print of a prostitute biting her handkerchief in pain as her arm is tattooed. Based on historical practice, the tattoo is likely the name of her lover.
Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of Western fashion, common among both genders, to all economic classes. One in five U.S. adults has at least one tattoo (21percent) which is up from the 16 percent and 14 percent who reported having a tattoo in 2003 and 2008, respectively.
20 million people in the UK have tattoos, making them Europe's most inked country.
In 1881, the future King George V of the UK got a tattoo in Japan, while serving in the Royal Navy. A local artist inked a red and blue dragon onto his arm, although the tattoo was never shown in public.
Lucky Diamond Rich (born Gregory Paul McLaren in 1971) is a New Zealand-born performance artist and street performer who holds the Guinness World Record for most tattooed man, taking the title from Tom Leppard in 2006. He has tattoos covering 100% of his body, including the insides of his eyelids, mouth, ears and foreskin.
In 2018 Florida resident Charlotte Guttenberg officially became the world's most tattooed woman ever with 98.75% of her body covered in ink. Charlotte only received her first tattoo after her 50th birthday, but her frequent sessions to the tattoo parlor have resulted in her becoming a record breaker.
When he turned 104, UK citizen Jack Reynolds became the oldest person to receive their first tattoo.
US sideshow performer “The Enigma” (Paul Lawrence) has the surface of his body divided by tattoos into 2,123 jigsaw pieces.
3000 times a minute is the maximum number of times a tattoo needle can penetrate the skin.
In South Korea, only a medical professional with a doctor's license is legally allowed to give someone a tattoo.
9 out of 10 Navy sailors had tattoos in the late 1800s. A pig on one foot and a rooster on the other were believed to protect them from drowning.
The stereotypical anchor tattoo indicated a sailor had crossed the Atlantic.
On a visit to the Holy Land in 1862, Queen Victoria's son Albert, Prince of Wales - later King Edward VII - had a Jerusalem Cross tattooed on his arm. it started a trend, with 100,000 Britons said to have got their own inkings.
Until 1879 soldiers in the British Army guilty of bad conduct were tattooed with the initials BC.
The first recorded professional tattoo artist in the United States was a German immigrant, Martin Hildebrandt. He opened a shop in New York City in 1846.
The electric pen, invented by Thomas Edison in 1875, was converted into the first electric tattoo needle by Samuel O'Reilly in the 1890s.
Jessie Knight was the UK's first prominent female tattoo artist. She began her tattooing career in 1921 in Barry, South Wales, having learnt how to tattoo from her father. Knight was also a star circus sharpshooter who shot her abusive ex-husband.
The US Navy used to forbid "obscene" tattoos, which led to a boom in tattoos of nude women among men who didn't want to serve. If they joined the navy later, they had to have a tattoo artist "dress" the woman.
It was illegal to get a tattoo in New York City between 1961 and 1997, which forced tattoo artists to operate on an underground basis.
Tattooing was illegal in South Carolina until 2004.
Below is an 1888 Japanese woodblock print of a prostitute biting her handkerchief in pain as her arm is tattooed. Based on historical practice, the tattoo is likely the name of her lover.
Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of Western fashion, common among both genders, to all economic classes. One in five U.S. adults has at least one tattoo (21percent) which is up from the 16 percent and 14 percent who reported having a tattoo in 2003 and 2008, respectively.
20 million people in the UK have tattoos, making them Europe's most inked country.
FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH TATTOOS
In 1881, the future King George V of the UK got a tattoo in Japan, while serving in the Royal Navy. A local artist inked a red and blue dragon onto his arm, although the tattoo was never shown in public.
Lucky Diamond Rich (born Gregory Paul McLaren in 1971) is a New Zealand-born performance artist and street performer who holds the Guinness World Record for most tattooed man, taking the title from Tom Leppard in 2006. He has tattoos covering 100% of his body, including the insides of his eyelids, mouth, ears and foreskin.
 |
| Lucky Diamond Rich face.By TOONMAN_ |
In 2018 Florida resident Charlotte Guttenberg officially became the world's most tattooed woman ever with 98.75% of her body covered in ink. Charlotte only received her first tattoo after her 50th birthday, but her frequent sessions to the tattoo parlor have resulted in her becoming a record breaker.
When he turned 104, UK citizen Jack Reynolds became the oldest person to receive their first tattoo.
US sideshow performer “The Enigma” (Paul Lawrence) has the surface of his body divided by tattoos into 2,123 jigsaw pieces.
FUN TATTOO FACTS
3000 times a minute is the maximum number of times a tattoo needle can penetrate the skin.
 |
| A modern tattoo machine. By Manfred Kohrs |
In South Korea, only a medical professional with a doctor's license is legally allowed to give someone a tattoo.
Norwegian metalhead, Tom Engelbrecht, holds the Guinness World Record for most tattoos of the same band, with a total of 43 Metallica tattoos on his body (as of December 5, 2023).
Source Christianitytoday
No comments:
Post a Comment