History of Tattoos

The word tattoo comes from the Tahician word "tatu" which means to mark something.

It is arguable claimed that tattooing has existed since 12,000 BC. The purpose of tattooing varies from culture to culture and its place on the time line.

Tattoos have always had an important role in ritual and tradition. In Borneo, women tattooed their symbols on their forearm indicating their particular skills. Tattoos around the wrist and fingers were believed to ward away illness and disease. Throughout history tattoos have signified membership in a clan or society. It has been believed that the wearer of an image calls the spirit of that image.

In recorded history, the earliest tattoos can be found in Egypt during the time of the construction of the great pyramids. It undoubtedly began much earlier than that. When the Egyptians expanded their empire, the art of tattooing did as well. The civilizations of Crete, Greece, Persia, and Arabia picked up and expanded the art of form. Around 2,000 BC tattooing spread to China.

The Greeks used tattooing for communication among spies. Markings identified the spies and showed their rank. Romans marked criminals and slaves. The Ainu people of western Asia used tattooing to show social status. Girls coming of age were marked to announce their place as were the married women. The Ainu are noted for introducing tattoos to Japan where it developed into a religious and ceremonial rite. In Borneo, women were the tattooists. They produced designs indicating the owner’s station in life and the tribe they belonged to. Kayan women had delicate arm tattoos that looked like lacy gloves. Dayak warriors who had "taken a head" had tattoos to mark their tribal communities, families, and rank. They brought their art to New Zealand and developed a facial style of tattooing called Moko. There is evidence that the Mayan, Incas, and Aztecs used tattooing in their rituals. Even the isolated tribes in Alaska practiced tattooing, their style indicating it was learned from the Ainu.

In the west, early Britons used tattooing in ceremonies. The Danes, Norse, and Saxons tattooed family crests. In 787 AD, Pope Hadrian banned tattooing. It still thrived in Britain until the Norman Invasion of 1066. The Normans disdained tattooing. It disappeared from Western culture from the 12th to the 16th centuries.

While tattooing diminished in the west, it thrived in Japan. At first, tattoos were used to mark the criminals. First offenses were marked with a line across the forehead. A second crime was marked by adding an arch. A third offense was marked by another line. Together these marks formed the Japanese character for "dog." In time, the Japanese escalated the tattoo to an aesthetic art form.

William Dampher is responsible for re-introducing tattooing to the west. He was a sailor and explorer who traveled the South Seas. In 1691 he brought to London a heavily tattooed Polynesian named Prince Giolo, known as the "Painted Prince." He was put on exhibition, and became the rage of London. It had been 600 years since the tattoos had been seen in Europe and it would be another 100 years before tattooing would make it to the West.

In the late 1700's, Captain Cook made several trips to the south Pacific. The people of London welcomed his stories and were anxious to see the art and artifacts he brought with him. Returning from one of his trips, he brought a heavily tattooed Polynesian named Omai. Soon, the upper classes were getting tattoos in discreet places. For a short time tattooing had become a fad.

What kept tattooing from becoming widespread was its slow painstaking procedure. Each puncture of the skin was done by hand and the ink applied. In 1891, Samuel O'Reily patented the first electric tattooing machine. Based on Edison's electric pen that punctured paper with a needlepoint. The basic design with moving coils, a tube, and a needle bar, are the components of today's tattoo machine.

By the turn of the century, tattooing had lost a great deal of credibility. Tattooists worked the sleazier parts of town. Heavily tattooed people traveled with circuses and "freak shows." Betty Brodbent traveled with Ringling Brothers Circus in the 1930's and was a star attraction for years. The birthplace of the American style tattoo was Chatham Square in New York City. At the turn of the century it was a seaport and entertainment center attracting working-class people with money. Samuel O'Reily came from Boston and set up shop there. He took on an apprentice named Charlie Wagner. After O'Reily's death in 1908, Wagner opened a supply business with Lew Alberts. Alberts had trained as a wallpaper designer and he transferred those skills to the design of tattoos. He is noted for redesigning a large portion of early tattoo flash art.

In the 1920's, with prohibition and then the depression, Chatham Square lost its appeal. The center for tattoo art moved to Coney Island. Across the country, tattooists opened shops in areas that would support them, namely cities with military bases close by, particularly naval bases. Tattoos were known as travel markers. You could tell where a person had been by their tattoos.

After World War II, tattoos became further denigrated by their associations with Marlon Brando type bikers and juvenile delinquents. Tattooing had little respect in American culture.

In the late 1960's, the attitude toward tattooing greatly changed. Today, tattooing is making a strong comeback. It is more popular and accepted than it has ever been. All classes of people seek the best tattoo artists. This rise in popularity has placed tattooist in the category of the "fine artists." The tattooist has garnered a respect not seen for over 100 years. Current artists combine the tradition along with their personal style creating unique and phenomenal body art. With the addition of new inks, and new techniques, tattooing has most certainly reached a new plateau.