The phenomenon of time
Tattoos are a true phenomenon, with the evolution of the colorful patterns going back to a time about 12000 years ago, when different cultures and peoples used tattoos completely independently, for identification or for medicinal purposes.
The Iceman
"Ötzi" features the oldest finding of tattoos that have been found on humans. Surviving for 5400 years on the skin of a frozen mummy, they included 61 simple tattoos of geometric shapes. Each of these scars were located in areas of classical acupuncture, which leads scientists to believe that tattoos were not solely for beauty purposes, as they are today, but also had a medical origin. And despite the fact that such an ancient find was made in South Tyrol, it is still impossible to say in which culture the origin of the tattoo lay, since this procedure was used worldwide for the most diverse purposes.
From "Tattau" to "Tattoo"
The term "tattoo" alone can be attributed to the old Tahitian term "tattau", which was used in 1769 by the entry of a Tahitian prince. The navigator and explorer James Cook found on a shipping company a people who wore tattoos and felt fascination for the Tahitian signs, which is why he brought the heavily tattooed prince with him to Europe. The "tattoo", as it was pronounced in English, was born.
The ancient world
Tattoos have been around long before explorers and sailors. According to records of the ancient Greeks or Romans, tattoos were used to divide society. For example, Romans marked their legionaries and Greeks marked their slaves. However, tattoos did not have a completely bad reputation at the time. They also served as trophies for those who survived the Crusades and were always meant to remind people of victory.
Within the higher classes, they were not respected and were punished with ostracism. This contributed, especially through Christianity, to the transformation of the negative image of tattoos.
The European Middle Ages
Unfortunately, this time meant a low for tattoos, as it was dismissed by the widespread Christianity as blasphemy or called "corrosive" scripture. After a certain point, tattoos were even banned by the church. Paradoxically, however, it was Christians who wore tattoos, mostly of Christian origin. They were meant to ensure a fair burial for travelers in case they died during the journey.
The time of the seafarers and explorers
Unfortunately, this image remained for many years and was broken only in the time of the sailors. With the discovery of James Cook, the beautiful body jewelry received more prestige and was also worn among the nobles. However, they usually did not have themselves tattooed, but tattooed slaves who were to put the art on show. Also seafarers found pleasure in the eternal art and made it a tradition to get tattooed to match their experiences. A tradition that really fueled the old seafaring stories and brought them to the people for the first time. They learned the craft through contact with different cultures and opened their own tattoo studios as soon as they settled in a port city.
Tom Riley and the wild 70s
Now that the art of tattooing had arrived in society, its image was to experience yet another boom. Tom Riley invented the first tattoo machine in 1890 and provided the repeated upswing of the trend. This also brought the tattoo trend among the aristocratic class, where they were now worn even by the rich and beautiful, instead of just showing them off. Some of them even opened studios themselves. As quickly as the rise came, the tide turned again. Tattoos became known among criminals and prostitutes, a turn that the upper class did not like. In order not to be compared with the lower class, they repelled the tattoo trend again.
Even many years later tattoos did not enjoy the fame they have today. It was not until the 70s that the prejudices slowly faded and the eternal art was worn more often again. Only in the areas of punk and rock'n'rolls they fought their way up and enrich our entire society today.
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