Tattoo History

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In 3000 B.C. during the Late Stone Age, a man around the age of 45 or 46 died while walking near the present-day border between Austria and Italy. He lived to the south of the Alps near Lake Garda, in what is now known as northern Italy. This ancient man is called Ice Man, and he has some of the earliest known tattoos. Ice Man has tattoos of stripes and crosses in “strategic locations on the body”(Othmar), such as his calves. While his tattoos are invisible to the naked eye, using infrared photography, it was discovered that Ice man had 57 stripes in 16 groups along with both a large and a small cross-like mark in different places on his body where physical stress might cause him pain (Othmar). Throughout history, references to permanent markings have appeared. They have been discovered on the bodies of people who lived thousands of years before our time. There have been figurines decorated with what were probably the tattoos of the time, and tattoos are all around us in present day. Although tattoos have been around almost since the beginning of human history, the way they have been used and whether tattoos were seen in a positive light or a negative light has changed with each culture. In ancient cultures, the people believed that tattoos had magical significance or healing powers. Kitamura mentions one historical book about Japan that wrote about the discovery of clay figurines from the Jōmon period (10,000 B.C. - 300 B.C.) (Kitamura). Those clay figurines that were found were covered in designs that were probably the tattoos of that time. In 1948, the body of a Scythian man who lived around the year 550 B.C. was found in Siberia. He had very detailed tattoos that depicted mythical animals that covered his limbs and torso. ... ... middle of paper ... ...er. Web. 03 Nov. 2011. Kitamura, Takahiro. Tattoos of the Floating World: Ukiyo-e Motifs in Japanese Tattoo. Leiden: Hotei Pub., 2003. Print. Kosut, Mary. "An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos." Journal Of Popular Culture 39.6 (2006): 1035-1048. Academic Search Premier. Web. 03 Nov. 2011. Lineberry, Cate. "Tattoos; The Ancient and Mysterious History." Smithsonian Magazine. 9 Nov. 2011. Othmar, Gaber, and Karl-Heinz Künzela. "Experimental Gerontology : "Man From the Hauslabjoch." ScienceDirect - Home. Nov.-Dec. 1998. Web. 03 Nov. 2011. Sanders, Clinton R. ., and D. Angus Vail. Customizing The Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing. Google Scholar. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1998. Print. Thomas, Nicholas, Anna Cole, and Bronwen Douglas. Tattoo: Bodies, Art, and Exchange in the Pacific and the West. Durham: Duke UP, 2005. Print.

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