Essay Sample on Tattoos: A Journey Through History and Culture

Introduction

Over the past 100 years, humankind has been marking their bodies with different tattoos to meet other bodies' purposes. Tattoos come in different designs such as direct, elaborate but with the personal and permanent impression with a representation of different amulets, signs of religious beliefs, adornments, declarations of love, status symbols, and sometimes punishment. The tattoos' history and cultural aspect can be traced from the known Iceman – the 5200-year-old frozen mummy to the current Maori (Lineberry, 2007). The earliest identified instances of the use of the tattoos could be traced to c. 2000 B.C in Egypt, as was evident in women mummies living in this period when such paintings were believed to be working effectively on the actual human bodies. However, the recent Iceman discovery between the border of Italy and Australia in 1991 and the new tattooing patterns, the c. 2000 B.C date was pushed back to 1000 years during the carbon-dated period, about 5200 years old.

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Iceman Tattoos

The Iceman tattoos distribution has its specific roles as applied in the various parts of the body. According to Lineberry (2007), the coverage of dots of tattoos with minimal crosses on the lower part of the spine, knees, and ankles corresponds to the strain-induced elements to degeneration. Such tattoos may have been used as a therapeutic approach in mind of reducing the possible joints pains. It can also explain the aspect of random distribution in the body parts that would be uneasy to see if they were applied to show the status maker's element.

Ancient Egyptians

In Egypt's case, the pieces of evidence show that females had tattoos on their limbs and bodies from the period of 400-3500 B.C to frequent female numbers evident in the scenes of tombs in c. 1200 B.C and in figurine at around c. 1300 B.C., most of these women had the tattoos at their thighs (Lineberry, 2007). The historical shreds of evidence show the traces of the implements of bronze were used to draw the tattoos on these females. The discovery was found in the townsite of Gurob in northern Egypt, dating around c. 1450 BC. Additionally, there other female mummies that were having tattoos during period c. 2000 B.C. with a representation of permanent marks as evident in the burials of the Greco-Roman in Akhmim.

Conclusion

The tattoos' implements were made using a sharp sharp-pointed with a wooden handle in the period of c. 3000 B.C., as was sharply discovered in Abydos' sites, where it's belied they were used in making the tattoos. Petrie identified Abydos' location with small bronze instruments with a resemblance of broad, flattened needles that functions in making multiple dots of colors in the human body during the period of c. 1450 BC. These instruments resembled the tattooing implements applied around the 19th century in Egypt. According to Lineberry (2007), the tattooing process was conducted through the seven tied needles and placed on the human's skin and then pricked in different specific patterns. The expert used a mixture of breast milk (from a female) and oil or smock wood and rubbed at the desired body parts. The general population targeted was the children of ages between 5 to 6 years, especially by the gypsy females.

References

Lineberry, C. (January 1, 2007). Tattoos: The Ancient and Mysterious History
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tattoos-144038580/.