Tattoo or not Tattoo - Origin of the most fashionable accessory today

The practice of skin ornamentation is certainly as widespread and as ancient as Man himself. It may well
have been one of his first conscious acts involving tools which separated him from the rest of the animal
kingdom. It is thought by some that ancient mans first primordial feeling when he found himself without
great amounts of body hair was to take a blackened sharp stick from the fire and decorate ( Tattoo ) his
body, in this way he became camouflaged or protected as the animals were .

As the origins of art are rooted in early cave paintings, so positive proof of Tattooing is obtained from
recent discoveries of ancient frozen mummified remains of early man that are covered in Tattoos. Oldest
Tattooed body known to date is that of a Bronze Age man who died over 5000 years ago. He was found
frozen intact in an Italian glazier. Researchers where startled at close examination he was found to have
both arms, legs and torso covered with elaborate Tattoos representing mythical creatures. 15000 BC ice
age rock carvings show Tattooed figures, 4200 BC Egyptian mummies wear Tattoos. Archaeologically
validated works of art showing Tattoos started to appear about 30000 years ago. One must not forget that,
with the exemption of mummies, all art on the Human body disappears into the fire or ashes along with its
bearer.

Western culture now has a widespread resurgence and acceptance of the Tribal practice of Tattooing.
More and more research on Tribal people, their arts, Tattoos, and lifestyles, and more and more available
images of Tattooed people have led to western peoples interest in Tribal Tattoos. Pretechnological designs
(i.e.,Black Tribal) give the wearer a link to the origins of all present human society, a past Tribal culture
wherein the Tattoo had an inner meaning to the wearer , not just a modern symbol of our present culture
such as a Mickey Mouse Tattoo.
Most native peoples of the Americas practiced tattooing to some extent. It served a variety of purposes
depending on location, gender, and the state of inter tribal relations.

A variety of methods were used to create tattoos. Among the Sioux, for example, women would draw a circle
or line on a person's skin with clay, punch the design with an awl, and then rub blue clay over it. By the time
the clay was dry it had penetrated beneath the awl holes. Among California natives an older woman would
scratch the skin of a subject and rub charcoal dust or plant juice into the scratches for color. Following
contact with Europeans, the Ojibwas drew on the skin with a stick dipped in gunpowder dissolved in water.
The figure was then pricked with needles dipped in vermilion and the skin was seared with punkwood to
prevent festering. The area would then be treated with an antiseptic herbal wash. These processes often
took a number of days.

Tattoos held different meanings for different tribes. In the Northwest, from California to Washington, tattoos
identified a woman's village. In Alaska certain tattoos indicated that a man had killed an enemy in battle,
and among the Yokuts of California tattoos marked the location of a person's supernatural power. As is the
case in other parts of the world, Native American tattooing reflected (and reflects) a variety of concerns and
attitudes related to the human body.
Tattoo Fashions