Man has been inking his skin since we first emerged on this planet and tattooing has enjoyed a huge revival in the past few years. Some call it body art and the standards have improved over the years, as emerging tech enables new tattoo guns to create stunning body art that lasts a lifetime, and with that in mind, here is some background information on the history of tattooing.
The first tattoos
No one can really say exactly where or when tattooing first emerged; almost every culture in the world has tattooing in their history. Ink art was found on Egyptian mummies as far back as 6,000 BC. There is evidence that the Greek warriors decorated their skin with symbols to protect them during combat; the romans and many Asian cultures also discovered ways to ink their body before they went into battle; in the Middle Ages, many warriors would ink their skin in an attempt to have extra protection; a sharp bamboo stick was used in Asia to perforate the skin and put ink into the middle layers of skin.
Thai Sak Yant
Formerly called Siam, in the 17th century, Thai warriors inked special geometric shapes into their skin along with Sanskrit words that were believed to ward off evil spirits. Even today, there are many ‘Ruesi’ (Sak Yant Masters) that have 100s of Yants (tattoos) that they ink on their disciples, as this tradition is alive and well in many Asian countries.
Australian Aborigine body art
Here in Oz, the indigenous people developed their own unique style of tattooing and you can see the many styles of tattoos at Australian Tattoo Expo, which is a very popular event. Aussies love to decorate their body with stunning tattoos, both men and women regularly have some ink and why not?
Tattoos in Japan
The Japanese embraced tattoos since the Paleolithic Period, however, it was banned in the 1800s and only criminals got tattoos, which became the trademark of a criminal gang called Yakuza. In the past few years, tattooing has become more acceptable and regular people are beginning to have parts of their body inked.
As you can see, every culture in the world has their own unique form of tattooing and the past few years has seen a rise in popularity in body art.
