, the last
mambabatok (traditional Kalinga tattooist) of the
Kalinga in the
Philippines, performing a traditional batek tattoo Preserved tattoos on ancient
mummified human remains reveal that tattooing has been practiced throughout the world for thousands of years. In 2015, scientific re-assessment of the age of the two oldest known tattooed mummies identified
Ötzi as the oldest example then known. This body, with 61 tattoos, was found embedded in glacial ice in the
Alps, and was dated to 3250 BC. In 2018, the oldest
figurative tattoos in the world were discovered on two mummies from Egypt which are dated between 3351 and 3017 BC. Ancient tattooing was most widely practiced among the
Austronesian people. It was one of the early technologies developed by the Proto-Austronesians in
Taiwan and coastal
South China prior to at least 1500 BC, before the Austronesian expansion into the islands of the
Indo-Pacific. It may have originally been associated with
headhunting. Tattooing traditions, including facial tattooing, can be found among all Austronesian subgroups, including
Taiwanese indigenous peoples,
Islander Southeast Asians,
Micronesians,
Polynesians, and the
Malagasy people.
Austronesians used the characteristic hafted skin-puncturing technique, using a small mallet and a piercing implement made from
Citrus thorns, fish bone, bone, and oyster shells. Ancient tattooing traditions have also been documented among
Papuans and
Melanesians, with their use of distinctive
obsidian skin piercers. Some archeological sites with these implements are associated with the Austronesian migration into
Papua New Guinea and
Melanesia. But other sites are older than the Austronesian expansion, being dated to around 1650 to 2000 BC, suggesting that there was a preexisting tattooing tradition in the region. the
Yoruba,
Fulani and
Hausa people of
Nigeria; the
Makonde people of
Kenya,
Tanzania and
Mozambique;
Native Americans of the
Pre-Columbian Americas; people of
Rapa Nui;
Picts of
Iron Age Britain; and
Paleo-Balkan peoples (
Illyrians and
Thracians, as well as
Daunians in
Apulia), a tradition that has been preserved in the western
Balkans by
Albanians (
Albanian traditional tattooing), Catholics in
Bosnia and Herzegovina (
Sicanje), and women of some
Vlach communities.
Egypt and Sudan The earliest figural tattoos were identified on the
naturally mummified human remains of a male buried within a shallow grave from Gebelein in upper
Egypt, and
radiocarbon dated to around 3351-3017 BC. The male mummy, named the "Gebelein man", had two overlapping tattoos on his right forearm, one depicting a
bovine, and the other depicting another horned animal, perhaps a
barbary sheep or another bovine. While the Gebelein man was buried in Egypt, most discoveries of tattooed individuals from this region are from Ancient Nubia. In Nubia, the earliest identified human remains with tattoos are dated to the C-Group period, which lasted from 2345 to 1500 BC and was contemporaneous with the First Intermediate period through the Second Intermediate period in Ancient Egypt. The
Löwenmensch figurine from the
Aurignacian culture dates to approximately 40,000 years ago and features a series of parallel lines on its left shoulder. The ivory
Venus of Hohle Fels, which dates to between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago also exhibits incised lines down both arms, as well as across the torso and chest. The oldest and most famous direct proof of ancient European tattooing appears on the body of
Ötzi the Iceman, dating from the late 4th millennium BC. viewed tattoos as signs of nobility and divinity. In Book 5 (of
The Histories), Herodotus remarks that the Thracians believed "
the possession of tattoos held to be a sign of breeding, while the lack of them was a mark of low birth". The ancient Greeks and
Romans used tattooing to penalize slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war. While known, decorative tattooing was looked down upon and religious tattooing was mainly practiced in
Egypt and
Syria. The
Picts may have been tattooed (or
scarified) with elaborate, war-inspired black or dark blue
woad (or possibly copper for the blue tone) designs.
Julius Caesar described these tattoos in Book V of his
Gallic Wars (54 BCE). Nevertheless, these may have been painted markings rather than tattoos. man from
Pazyryk, preserved in Siberian permafrost from the 5th-4th century BC
Scythians from Central Asia and southern
Siberia practiced extensive tattooing, evident from mummified remains (like the famous
Siberian Ice Princess) in the
Pazyryk culture (Saka/Scythian) of the Altai region. In his encounter with a group of pagan Scandinavian
Rus' merchants in the early 10th century,
Ahmad ibn Fadlan describes what he witnesses among them, including their appearance. He notes that the Rus' were heavily tattooed: "From the tips of his toes to his neck, each man is tattooed in dark green with designs, and so forth." Raised in the aftermath of the
Norman conquest of England,
William of Malmesbury describes in his
Gesta Regum Anglorum that the Anglo-Saxons were tattooed upon the arrival of the Normans (..."arms covered with golden bracelets, tattooed with coloured patterns ..."). The practice of exhibiting tattooed
Indigenous peoples in Western Europe began during the
Age of Discovery, with documented instances involving
Inuit as early as the mid-16th century and a Filipino man from the island of
Mindanao in the late 17th century. These individuals were typically abducted and displayed as "curiosities" for commercial exploitation. One Inuk, a tattooed woman (
kakiniit) from
Baffin Island, was illustrated by the English cartographer
John White. , a tattooed
Raiatean man brought back to Europe by
Captain James Cook It is commonly held that the modern popularity of tattooing stems from Captain
James Cook's three voyages to the South Pacific in the late 18th century. Certainly, Cook's voyages and the dissemination of the texts and images from them brought more awareness about tattooing (and, as noted above, imported the word "tattow" into Western languages). On Cook's first voyage in 1768, his science officer and expedition botanist,
Sir Joseph Banks, as well as artist
Sydney Parkinson and many others of the crew, returned to England with a keen interest in tattoos with Banks writing about them extensively and Parkinson is believed to have gotten a tattoo himself in
Tahiti. Banks was a highly regarded member of the English aristocracy who had acquired his position with Cook by co-financing the expedition with ten thousand pounds, a very large sum at the time. In turn, Cook brought back with him a tattooed
Raiatean man,
Omai, whom he presented to King George and the English Court. On subsequent voyages other crew members, from officers, such as American John Ledyard, to ordinary seamen, were tattooed. The first documented professional tattooist in Britain was
Sutherland Macdonald, who operated out of a salon in London beginning in 1894. In Britain, tattooing was still largely associated with sailors and the lower or even criminal class, but by the 1870s had become fashionable among some members of the upper classes, including royalty, and in its upmarket form it could be an expensive and sometimes painful process. A marked
class division on the acceptability of the practice continued for some time in Britain.
North America (an Inuit subgroup) woman at
Cape Fullerton, Canada, showing her
kakiniit, photograph by
Albert Peter Low, Many
Indigenous peoples of North America practice tattooing. European explorers and traders who met Native Americans noticed these tattoos and wrote about them, and a few Europeans chose to be tattooed by Native Americans. See
history of tattooing in North America. By the time of the
American Revolution, tattoos were already common among American sailors (see
sailor tattoos). Tattoos were listed in
protection papers, an identity certificate issued to prevent
impressment into the British
Royal Navy. The first recorded professional tattoo shop in the U.S. was established in the early 1870s by a German immigrant,
Martin Hildebrandt. He had served as a Union soldier in the
Civil War and tattooed many other soldiers. This trend lasted until the beginning of
World War I. The invention of the electric tattoo machine caused popularity of tattoos among the wealthy to drop off. The machine made the tattooing procedure both much easier and cheaper, thus, eliminating the status symbol tattoos previously held, as they were now affordable for all socioeconomic classes. The status symbol of a tattoo shifted from a representation of wealth to a mark typically seen on rebels and criminals. Despite this change, tattoos remained popular among military servicemen, a tradition that continues today. by a fellow sailor aboard
USS New Jersey in 1944 Tattooing was illegal in parts of the country until the early 1960s and 70s. It was illegal in New York City from 1961-1997 and illegal throughout various states like Oklahoma, Massachusetts, North Carolina. When it was not illegal statewide, certain cities banned it such as Newark, NJ and Kansas City, MO. In some locations, bans were not lifted until the 2000s. In 1975, there were only 40 tattoo artists in the U.S.; in 1980, there were more than 5,000 self-proclaimed tattoo artists, appearing in response to sudden demand. Many studies have been done of the tattooed population and society's view of tattoos. In June 2006, the
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology published the results of a telephone survey of 2004: it found that 36% of Americans ages 18–29, 24% of those 30–40, and 15% of those 41–51 had a tattoo. In September 2006, the
Pew Research Center conducted a telephone survey that found that 36% of Americans ages 18–25, 40% of those 26–40 and 10% of those 41–64 had a tattoo. They concluded that
Generation X and
Millennials express themselves through their appearance, and tattoos are a popular form of self-expression. In January 2008, a survey conducted online by
Harris Interactive estimated that 14% of all adults in the United States have a tattoo, slightly down from 2003, when 16% had a tattoo. Among age groups, 9% of those ages 18–24, 32% of those 25–29, 25% of those 30–39 and 12% of those 40–49 have tattoos, as do 8% of those 50–64. Men are slightly more likely to have a tattoo than women. Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of Western fashion, common both for men and women, and among all economic classes and to age groups from the later teen years to middle age. For many young Americans, the tattoo has taken on a decidedly different meaning than for previous generations. The tattoo has undergone "dramatic redefinition" and has shifted from a form of deviance to an acceptable form of expression. As of 1 November 2006,
Oklahoma became the last state to legalize tattooing, having banned it since 1963.
Australia Scarring was practised widely amongst the Indigenous peoples of Australia, now only really found in parts of
Arnhem Land. Each "deliberately placed scar tells a story of pain, endurance, identity, status, beauty, courage, sorrow or grief."
Barramoyokjarlukkugarr walang bolhminy now bolitj. They put it on the wound and then it comes up as an adornment scar. (
Bob Burruwal,
Rembarrnga, Arnhem Land) The practice was also used by British authorities to mark army deserters and military personnel court-martialed in Australia. In nineteenth century Australia tattoos were generally the result of personal rather than official decisions but British authorities started to record tattoos along with scars and other bodily markings to describe and manage convicts assigned for transportation. The practice of tattooing appears to have been a largely non-commercial enterprise during the convict period in Australia. For example, James Ross in the Hobart Almanac of 1833 describes how the convicts on board ship commonly spent time tattooing themselves with gunpowder.By the beginning of the twentieth century, there were tattoo studios in Australia but they do not appear to have been numerous. For example, the Sydney tattoo studio of Fred Harris was touted as being the only tattoo studio in Sydney between 1916 and 1943. Tattoo designs often reflected the culture of the day and in 1923 Harris's small parlour experienced an increase in the number of women getting tattoos. Another popular trend was for women to have their legs tattooed so the designs could be seen through their stockings. By 1937 Harris was one of Sydney's best-known tattoo artists and was inking around 2000 tattoos a year in his shop. Sailors provided most of the canvases for his work but among the more popular tattoos in 1938 were Australian flags and kangaroos for sailors of the visiting American Fleet. In modern-day Australia, tattoos are common and widely accepted. A 2024 study determined that there were 1,860 tattoo businesses in Australia.
Latin America Of the three best-known Pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, the Mayas and the Aztecs of Central America were known to wear tattoos while the Incas of South America were not. However, there is evidence that the
Chimu people who preceded the Incas did wear tattoos for magic and medical purposes. The diverse tribes of the Amazon have also worn tattoos for millennia and continue to do so to this day, including facial tattoos and notably, the people of the
Xingu River in the
North of Brazil and the
Putumayo River between Peru, Brazil, and Colombia
New Zealand chief with tattoos (
moko) seen by Cook and his crew (drawn by
Sydney Parkinson 1769), engraved for
A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas by Thomas Chambers The
Māori people of New Zealand have historically practiced tattooing. Amongst these are facial designs worn to indicate lineage, social position, and status within the
iwi (tribe) called
tā moko. The tattoo art was a sacred marker of identity among the Māori and also referred to as a vehicle for storing one's
tapu, or spiritual being, in the afterlife. One practice was after death to preserve the skin-covered skull known as
Toi moko or
mokomokai. In the period of early contact between Māori and Europeans these heads were traded especially for firearms. Many of these are now being repatriated back to New Zealand led by the country's national museum,
Te Papa.
Pakistan And Afghanistan woman with traditional facial tattoos (
Sheen Khāl) on her chin and cheeks. Public-domain image. Facial tattooing among
Pashtun women in
Afghanistan and
Pakistan is described in ethnographic and folkloric studies of the region. Commonly known as
khāl or
Sheen Khāl (“blue mark”), the practice involved placing small blue or green dots on the chin, forehead, cheeks, or between the eyebrows. These markings formed part of local aesthetic traditions and were typically applied using simple needle techniques and natural pigments by women within the community. Scholars note that facial tattooing was historically more common in rural and tribal
Pashtun communities, particularly among women, but declined significantly during the twentieth century. This decline is generally linked to social change, urbanisation, and changing religious attitudes toward tattooing, and the practice is now largely absent among younger generations.
India Tattooing in India has a long history, practiced by various tribes and communities. The art of tattooing was traditionally linked to cultural, social, and spiritual beliefs. In the northeastern states, such as Assam and Nagaland, tribal tattoos were symbolic of protection, rites of passage, and spiritual identity. The
Gond people of central India and
Warli tribe of Maharashtra also practiced tattooing, which represented their cultural heritage and connection to nature. In
Rajasthan, tattoos were often considered to protect the wearer from evil spirits and bring good fortune. Among the
Mishing people of Assam, tattoos were seen as indicators of maturity and social standing. The tradition of tattooing evolved over time from a ritualistic and protective art form to an expression of personal identity and individuality.
Binds in
Uttar Pradesh have used tattoos to signify the
marital status of a woman, especially in remote rural areas. In the past, girls would get tattooed as soon as they started
menstruating, which signaled to the family that it was time to begin searching for a
groom. In contemporary India, tattooing has become mainstream, particularly in urban areas, with many tattoo artists gaining international recognition. Tattoos are now a popular means of expressing personal stories, beliefs, and artistic style. == Process ==