Declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, status symbols and even forms of

punishment have all been done permanently via ink on ones skin. The earliest known tattoos
were originally thought to be Egyptian which were present on many female mummies that dated
back to 2000 B.C. That was until recently in 1991 an iceman from the area of the ItalianAustrian border was found to have tattoo patterns on his hand and is believed to be around 5,200
years old. (Lineberry, 2007) The tattooed right hand
of the Chiribaya mummy is displayed at El
Algarrobal Museum near the port of llo in southern
Peru. (Lineberry, 2007) It is believed that Otzi, the
iceman, was covered with more than 50 tattoos in forms of small lines and crosses made up of
small incisions in his skin into which charcoal was rubbed. (Lobell, 2013)
In Egypt, the art of tattooing was believed to be exclusively a female practice. Mummies
found with these markings were usually assumed to be the mark of prostitutes or were meant to
protect the women from sexually transmitted diseases. (Lineberry, 2007) On the other hand
some believed that tattooing of ancient Egyptian women served more of a therapeutic role during
pregnancy. This was supported by the pattern of distribution of dots applied over the abdomen
inn a net-like fashion to keep everything in. Bes, the protector of women in labor, was also a
figurine that was tattooed on a vast majority of the women and positioned at the top of the thighs
thus safeguarding the actual birth. (Lineberry, 2007)
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is a group of similar religious practices that Native
Americans speaking very different languages had in common from about A.D. 1200 to 1600.
According to David H. Dye of the University of Memphis, who has studied both ritual depictions
on artifacts and the Native American oral traditions, tattooing was a vital part of these shared

religious beliefs. (Lobell, 2013) For warriors, facial tattoos were snares for capturing the soul
of someone they killed in battle. Capturing those enemy souls through permanent tattoos helped
extend not only their own lives, but helped ease the passage of their dead relatives Dye
explained.
American tattooing evolved from the artists who traded, copied, swiped and improved on
each others work. This eventually developed into a series of popularly known symbols that
were commonly asked for in the military community during World War I and World War II.
These designs mainly represented courage, patriotism, defiance of death, and longing for family
and loved ones left behind. These records were obtained from ship logs, letters and diaries
written in the early 19th century. (Vanishingtattoo.com, 2013) C.H. Fellowes is considered to be
one of the first professional tattoo artists back then. He was believed to have followed the fleets
and practiced his art in numerous ports on soldiers.
Martin Hildebrandt, of German decent, began his career in 1846 by tattooing both Union
and Confederate soldiers with military insignias and the names of their sweethearts. He
eventually was to become the owner of the first tattoo studio in America. In 1870 it was called
an atelier and was located on Oak Street in New York City. He worked
there for twenty years and was the first tattoo artist to have completely
covered a person in tattoos for a circus attraction. (Vanishingtattoo.com,
2013) Samuel OReilly was tattoo artist that opened up a tattoo parlor in
1875 at 11 Chatham Square in Chinatown of the Bowery of New York City.
In addition to being an artist, OReilly was a mechanic and a technician.
OReilly eventually invented and patented his own automatic hand-held tattoo machine in 1891.

References
Lineberry, C. (Jan. 1, 2007) The ancient and mysterious history. Retrieved from
Smithsonian.com.
Lobell, J.A., & Powell, E.A. (2013) Ancient tattoos. Archeology, 66(6), 41-46
Vanishingtattoo.com (2013)