Com_150_Final,_Tattoos

Throughout history, there have been many forms of body modifications practiced by civilizations around the world. Women in parts of Africa as well as in Thailand, coil heavy brass wire around their necks in the belief that in lengthening their neck, it makes them more beautiful. In other tribes in Africa, the women will cut a slit in their lower, and sometimes upper lips, then insert wooden, or clay discs into the newly prepared hole. The discs are then changed out with increasingly larger discs over the period of several months. These activities are fairly localized, mostly due to tribal customs. On occasion, people from outside those cultures do adopt some of these body modification practices. Some of the more widely used forms of body modification are scarification and tattoos, with tattoos having become an acceptable main stream type of this art form. Tattoos have been referred to as a fad by many, but they have a worldwide historical significance with deep roots in our civilization’s culture. There is a theory that both scarification and tattoos may, in fact, have the same origin, where-by an open wound would have had ash or charcoal dust rubbed into it to help it heal and prevent an infection from forming. The result would be that the medium introduced into the wound would become a permanent part of the body. With a little forethought, our ancestors could have applied any type of design to there skin, simply by dipping a shard of bone into a paste made from the chosen medium, then poked into the skin (Syrkiewicz, 2008). The oldest known tattoo comes from an iceman discovered near the Italian-Austrian border in 1991, his remains have been carbon dated at approximately 5,200 years old. Evidence shows that woman of Egypt were being tattooed as far back as 4,000 BC, and additional evidence that shows tattoos may have existed as long ago as 14,000 BC. Often, tattoos have been used to advertise abilities, as a way to display membership of a clan, or tribe, and even today, certain tattoo symbols appearing as a ring on individuals fingers are meant to ward off illness (Lineberry, 2007). As the human race began its slow advancement around the world, tattoos followed. There is now no continent on the Earth, with the exception of Antarctica, where tattoos are not commonplace. The only reason that Antarctica is left off this list, is that there is no indigenous inhabitants. With people making visits to this cold land, it can probably be assumed that at some point, tattoos have even made it there also (Ho, et al., 2009). Although tattoos have been an acceptable form of body modification, for as far back as we can determine there have been somewhat brief periods in Europe where the tattoo has been banned. In 787 AD, Pope Hadrian the first declared the practice to be barbarous, and put a stop to it. This seemed to be effective, at least in Rome, but it did little to stop the practice in areas outside the immediate Roman Empire. Brittan and the Anglo-Saxons continued the art of tattooing, that is, until being conquered by the Normans in 1066 AD. The Normans highly despised the practice and put an immediate end to it. No records of tattooing in Brittan are found again until 1600 AD. Where the art died out in a large portion of Europe for this several hundred-year period, the same cannot be said of Japan, and other areas of the Asian continent. By all accounts, the practice of tattooing not only flourished it was becoming the exotic art form that we have come to know of today (Steward, 1990). Before the advent of the tattoo gun, the application of tattoos was a slow process, and without years of experience, the results would not always be of the highest quality. In the late 1800’s the first electrical tattoo gun was invented but was not used with much regularity. During WWII, many soldiers had tattoos placed on their body’s to symbolize their connection not only to the military, but more so to the specific unit in which they served. When soldiers returned home, the only people having any knowledge of tattooing were the soldiers themselves. Often, tattoos would be applied in a back alley, or a friend’s garage using the old method of dipping the needle into the ink, then poking it into the skin, one poke at a time (Steward, 1990). Today’s tattoo guns use state of-the art technology, and allow the artist to obtain highly detailed work. There is also a wide range of base colors, that when mixed, just about any color imaginable can be obtained. With these two advents, the popularity of tattoos has grown into every sector of tattoos world population, from the common individual, to celebrities, and those in government (Levins, 2007). With the increased popularity, and rapid growth of tattoo parlors, there has also come an increased concern about safety from infections from unsanitary needles and surroundings. In the United States as well as in many countries in the world, laws are in place to protect the recipient of a tattoo. An individual should take his or her time and decide if a tattoo is what he or she may want. Rushing into a design just because it might seem cool at that particular moment, may not be a good idea. Remember, a tattoo will last forever, and can be very expensive to get rid of, or difficult to change. Take the time to get to know the artist, and be aware of the parlors condition, if the shop looks dirty or unsanitary, find another shop (Nexus, n.d.) Tattoos have been a part of our world’s culture for thousands of years, and traveled to every part of our planet as our race has spread. From this, it is easy for one to see, that even though banned for a relatively short period, the thought that tattoos are a fad from some, has no basis of fact. Our use of this form of body modification has gone from simple dots and lines, to exotic, and expressive designs that have become socially acceptable in all our world’s societies. Today, we have the advantage of being able to look back, and criticize that, which we as a race have done in the past. In our future, we may look at what we have, and are doing today, and laugh. For our brief history, tattoos have been a common way to display our alliance to various groups. Today, it is becoming a way to express ourselves. References: Ho, Gary., Hogan, Jeremy., Hoke, Meghan., Holmes, Nathan., Ikemori, Mariko., Jordan, Michael., & Joy, Joby. (November 12, 2001) History of Tattoos Around the World. Retrieved on September 9, 2009 from: http://www.spaceports.com/~meggie/psu/art002/tattoos/ Lineberry, Cate. (January 01, 2007) Tattoos: The Ancient and Mysterious History Smithsonian Magazine Retrieved on September. 6, 2009 from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/tattoo.html Levins, Hoag. (2007) The Changing Cultural Status Of The Tattoo Arts In America. Retrieved on September 6, 2009 From: http://www.tattooartist.com/history.html Nexus Networks, Inc. (n.d.). Tattoo Laws. Retrieved on September 9, 2009 from: http://www.tattoodesign.com/tattoo_articles/tattoo_laws/ Steward, Samuel M., PhD. (1990) Bad boys and tough tattoos: a social history of the tattoo with gangs, Sailors and Street-Corner Punks. Haworth Press. Retrieved on September 9, 2009 from: http://books.google.com/books'id=ETzb1fmKXakC&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=norman+invasion+tatttoos&source=bl&ots=8UAAoT6q8s&sig=qc_yHxbwGfZv5pYWsOBRFDL7U_8&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false Syrkiewicz, Jen. (October 7, 2008) The History and Social Impact of Tattoos Origins, Cultural Uses and Facts About Tattooing. Retrieved on September 6, 2009 from: http://cultural-anthropology.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_history_and_social_impact_of_tattoos