Tribal Tatoos-History

Tribal tattoos go back to ancient times when almost every culture used tattooing – the oldest being that of a Bronze Age warrior who lived more than five thousand years ago. His mummified remains were exquisitely adorned with at least 57 tattoos resembling mythical creatures. 1500 Ice age rock carvings have also been discovered, featuring figures covered in tribal tattoos.

Tribal tattoos tend to resemble pieces of art from native and indigenous tribes. They can signify a clan or group of individuals sharing land and a sense of belonging. Ancient tribal tattoos were most commonly done using a needle attached to a stick and by repetitively tapping into the skin. Tribal body art is designed to distinguish and separate various tribes or groups.

Tribal tattoos were purely for personal adornment, to denote rank, or as a way of proclaiming oneself as a member of a certain tribe – sometimes tattoos had religious significance and often temporary tattooing was used during times of war.

Tribal tattoos designs often depict animals or birds, whatever seemed important to the ancient mind. Much tribal tattoos was facial and in some parts of the world these facial tattoos are most often used as a reminder of a person’s tribal or family history. New Zealand Maoris in particular use this type of facial tattooing and their tattoos are usually quite distinctive.

Native Americans also used tribal tattoos and very often this was a way of distinguishing one tribe from another tribe. In the tribal world, things are not always as they seem and tattooing and tattoo designs were not just mere ornaments, they meant something. The tribal art tattoos that we have now are often not the same as the tribal tattoos of the ancient world. Rather they are a mixture of ancient tribal tradition and modern tattoo design. This is largely due to a movement in the nineteen nineties that saw direct representation of ancient tribal tattoos as disrespectful to what the tattoos originally symbolized – so the tribal tattoos that are popular today are a hybrid of ancient tradition and modern day overtones.