by Linda St.Cyr

Created on: May 10, 2008   Last Updated: September 30, 2011

Body art has been around for centuries so the history of it is vast. Body art comes in many styles and is performed for many different reasons. It is popular in almost every region and culture just in different forms.

Body art can range from tattoos to body piercing to body modifications or henna applications. Each culture uses body art for their own purposes. The purposes of body art can be but are not limited to tribal identification, spiritual worship, systems of rank and status, rights of passage, wedding rituals and even in some cases as a medical practice.

Tattooing can arguably be traced back 12,000 years ago. An example was found on a mountain top between Italy and Austria. The body archaeologists recovered was dated to be 5000 years old, male, and was found to have 60 tattoos from the waist down. Another archaeologist by the name of Sergei Rudenko found mummified bodies during a dig in a region between China and Russia in the Altai mountains, these mummies were found to have tattoos and were dated back 24,000 years.

Not only have male mummies been found but also female mummies. In Egypt a mummified woman was found to have tattos along her torso and lower abdomen among other parts of her body. This woman dates back to between 1994 B.C. and 2160 B.C. She is believed to be Amunet, an Egyptian priestess.

The word Tattoo is believed to come from the Samoan language. The word Tatau means to mark or to strike twice. The earliest recorded use of the word tattoo was in 1769 in Captain James Cook's diary that he kept during his voyage to Marquesas Island.

The beginnings of body art in general is nearly impossible to trace. The evidence of body art being used is in the history of almost all places, America, Japan, China, Polynesia, Samoa, etc. The list is so vast it would take all day to write.

Body Piercing also has ancient origins. It can be traced back to Genesis in the Bible when Abraham gave a nose-ring to Rebekah, wife of his son Isaac. Piercing was done in many different places for many different reasons. The Aztecs and Mayans are reported to have used piercing as a blood letting ritual for the elite of their tribes. Romans and sometimes Europeans are noted for inventing nipple piercing. We cannot accurately find a historically correct date of the first piercing.

Body modification is a broad term for the items listed above and for other means such as tummy tucks, plastic surgery, implants, collagen shots, scarification, tattooing, piercing, etc. This is a general term for changes to the body image.

For more information about body art and its history you should check out your local tattoo and piercing shops as most artists in this field have a vast store of knowledge about their ideas of where body art came from and what it means.

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