History of Tattoo

There are few art forms have been around for as long as tattooing in fact, some anthropologists claim that the history of tattoos may date back as long as 15,000 years.

 Certainly, we know that many of the ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, used tattooing techniques. There are mentions of tattooing in the Bible, indicating that it was practiced among the ancient peoples of the Middle East as well. However, the remarkable thing about the history of tattoos is not just the length of time that humans have practiced it, looking at the history of body tattooing, we cannot help but be struck by how widespread this tradition was. Apparently, decorating the body in this permanent way is an almost universal impulse spread over a lot of different cultures.

Tribal Tattoo:

When relating the long history of tattooing, it's hard to know where to start. Around 2000 BCE tattooing had a cultural significance in places as diverse as China, Crete and Arabia. Among tribeswomen in Borneo, a tattoo on the forearm indicated that woman's special skills.

Among the Maori of New Zealand, in intricate tribal tattoo designs had a sacred significance. The Greeks and Romans used tattoos for a different purpose to show criminal or slave status. This is a concept that we could call the 'dark side' of tattoo history that fact that body tattooing  has been used in certain times in history, to indicate an inferior status. This is relatively unusual and in most cultures, tattoo art is a symbol of status or accomplishment.

The people of the Americas also practiced tattooing the Maya and Inca people were adept in tattooing techniques, as were the Inuit of Alaska. And while we may not be accustomed to thinking of Europeans in terms of 'tribes' it was not too long ago when the people practiced tattooing as well. However, following the Dark Ages in Europe, the people organized themselves into nations and tattooing became an all but forgotten art, only to be rediscovered during the course of eighteenth century exploration.

The New Tattoo Art:

In the early 1700s, the history of tattoos took a new twise. Captain Cook visited the South Pacific Islands and brought back with him an intricately tattooed young girl named Onai.

Instantly, tattoo designs become a hit, and many members of nobility obtained discreet, private tattoo art. For a brief time, tattooing then a costly, lengthy procedure became a status symbol. This all changed with the introduction of the first electric tattoo needle in 1891. Suddenly, everyone who wanted a tattoo could have one, and the result was that it came to be considered vulgar. This is after all a fairly typical human reaction when something is hard to get we ttend to want it more. 

After that, tattoo art went  underground, so to speak. A facility in New York's Chatham Square brought the practice to the modern American public, but tattooing was considered somewhat disreputable until it made a dramatic comeback a few decades ago. As tattoo designs and safety techniques improved and several prominent celebrities began to sport tattoos, they became desirable once again. Towards the end of the 1800s, criminals in America and even normal citizens were tattooed with a code for identification purposes.