Chinese Art Directory

Title	History of tattoos, Japanese tattoo history, Egyptian tattoo history, & Tattoo art themes
Name of submitter	Sarah Chang
Category id	9
Category	Chinese Tattoo Art
Date submitted	2008-10-04 19:14:44
Id	28
Description	The word tattoo is derived from the Polynesian word ‘ta’ meaning ‘to strike something’ and the Tahitian word ‘tatau’ meaning ‘to mark something’. Tattoo art history dates back to over 5000 years ago and is as various as the cultures and people that sport them. Tattoos to this day are increasingly popular, and are created by inserting coloring beneath the surface of the skin. One of the oldest known examples of tattoo art was found in 1991 on a 5000 year old ice man found in the mountains between Austria and Italy. This ‘ice man’ is the best preserved corpse ever found by archeologists and the skin of the ice man yielded more than 57 tattoos. The tattoos include a cross inside the left knee, six parallel lines above the kidneys, and numerous lines around the ankles. The tattoos were believed to be administered for therapeutic reasons such as arthritis.

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