Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

9 Introduction
painful, it is commonly part of rituals of passage designed to display
the initiate's courage and endurance (for example. among the
Kabre of Togo and Australian aborigines) (see Brain, 1979: 68-81;
Vogel. 1983).
Thttooing in Ancient and Tribal Cultures· The most ancient
and widely employed form of permanent body alteration is tattooing.
Archeological eVidence indicates that tattooing was probably
practiced among peoples living during the late Stone Age. Carved
figures from European sites dated 6,000 years B.C. and Egyptian
figurines created some 2,000 years later show facial and body
markings thought to represent tattoos. Proof of the antiquity of
the practice is derived from the mummified body of a priestess of
Hathor (dated 2.000 B.C.) that bears parallel line markings on the
stomach thought to have had medicinal or fertility functions. Tattooing
in ancient Egypt was confined to women. especially concubines,
dancers. and priestesses. Mummified remains bear series
of dots and geometric line patterns. Singers and other female entertainers
were decorated with the symbol of the goddess Bes. the
protectress of women in these roles (Paine. 1979; Levy et al.. 1979;
Hambly, 1974 [1925J: 105-108).
In 1948 archeologists working at Pazyrykin in Siberia discovered
a burial mound constructed by Sythian nomads in the fifth
century B.C. A number of well-preserved human remains were
found encased by ice, some of which bore intricate black line
markings on the arms. legs, and torso. The tattoos were sophisticated
animal designs-fish, cats. goats. and sheep-and probably
held totemic significance (Paine, 1979: 18; Thevoz, 1984: 21).
As early as 2,000 B.C. tattooing spread from the Mideast to the
PacifiC Islands by way of India, China. and Japan. Theories of how
the diffusion of tattooing into Pacific Island cultures took place
vary. It is most probable that the practice was carried by the Ainu.
a nomadic caucasian group that now inhabits the northern island
of Japan. Samoan explorers may have adopted tattooing after encountering
it in their western travels. and introduced it into Fiji,
Australia, New Zealand, and the Hawaiian Islands. An alternative
explanation of the diffusion holds that the practice was carried to
Polynesia and New Zealand by South American explorers in their