"Not one great country can be named, from the polar regions in the north to New Zealand in the south, in which the aborigines do not tattoo themselves." - Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex

Tribal Tattooing Around the World

Ongoing Research and opinion by Ray Reasoner, Jr.

The tribal tattoo is something that dates back through time and place and is connected nearly all of our heritages. Tattoos have been found in many ways that date back thousands of years. In 1991, a more than five-thousand year old mummy was found with sixty one tattoos from sometime between 3370 and 3100 BCE. This was in the Austrian/Italian Alps (Otzi the Iceman). The majority of these tattoos correspond to acupuncture points used today. In 1947 a Russian archaeologist found a Scythian chieftain with multiple zoomorphic (animal) tattoos. In 1891 the mummified remains of the Egyptian priestess Amunet was found having tattoos on her arms, legs, and below her navel. She is thought to have lived sometime between 2134 to 1991 BCE. These are just a few examples of different continents where tribal tattooing obviously existed.

So what is a tribal tattoo you may ask? What do tribal tattoos mean? Is it acceptable for me to get a tribal tattoo? I will do my best to answer these questions in this article. These questions are very vast and differing in answer from region to region and culture to culture. Let's start out with the North American Native tribal tattooing traditions.

North American Tribal Tattooing:

There are many Native tribes in North America and many different traditions for tribal tattooing, though there were hundreds more before the Spaniards and other settlers came and many of their traditions are lost to us for all time. I do like to think that some of them permeated the surrounding tribes as they conquered each other as well. It was very common for tribal tattoos to denote rank within the tribe. Take the Illinois for example. It was quite common for weapons of war to be tattooed upon the men and it is suggested by some that the women received tattoos of tools used for labor. The tools of war outranked the tools of labor. They seemingly kept their tribal tattooing practices to a minimum.

On the other hand the Timucua tribe was heavily tattooed. The Timucua hailed from the northern region of what is known today as Florida. Their tribal tattoos indicated wealth, rank, tribe affiliation, and direct family, their role in society, acts of strength, and deeds of bravery. Some of the tribal designs were as simple as a few lines or circles in certain patterns while others were highly intricate pieces of work. Holes were made in the flesh with various objects and then soot of some sort and berry juice was rubbed into the wounds. It was not uncommon for them to die from infection. The Timucua seem to have been one of the most heavily tattooed tribes within the North American continent.

There are many other tribes in North America that used tattoos to indicate various aspects of their lives, or as decoration. The Wichita, or Kitikiti’sh, as they called themselves, tattooed dark rings around the eyes of the men. Their tribal tattoos made them look “raccoon-eyed”. They had many other traditions as well but are best known for the dark rings.

Throughout history it has been quite typical for women to be denied the privilegeof being tattooed with a tribal marking or identity. The reasoning behind this, in many tribal communities, was that they were to be denied any adornment or niceties that would align them as equals to the men of the tribe. On the other hand, there were tribes such as the Omaha. The daughters of prominent men were marked with spots on their forehead to represent the sun. There were also many other tribes that allowed both sexes to be equally tattooed. Fortunately, a woman being the lesser in the tattooing pool has changed drastically over the past couple hundred years and is much more commonplace these days. Nowadays women are observed wearing tribal butterflies, tribal roses, and the ever popular tribal lower-back pieces. It is also quite typical once again for women to be tattooists these days.

Northwest Coast:

There are also the Inuit tribes of the northwest coast. The expert tribal tattooists of the Inuit were usually the elderly women. Their experience working with hides and other precise duties made their hands perfect for tattooing the tribal markings and amulets into their kinsman. The tattooer would make a mixture of lampblack, urine turned to ammonia, and graphite as the pigment for her indelible tribal artwork. All of these items had a spiritual power and were commonly used to ward off evil spirits. These tribal tattoos were also believed to prevent and cure sickness associated with the evil spirits. She would then take a strip of sinew and string it through a bone or steel needle, soak it in the pigment, and then proceed to her creations. If you think tattoos hurt now, think about it being sewn into your skin instead!

In closing on the First People of North America tribal tattooing customs; there are many more areas that I did not touch on for we could spend years discussing all of the different traditions. There are many, many tribes full of various tribal traditions that I would encourage you to research. Here are some terms that may come in handy: Hupa, Caddo, Natchez, Thompson Indians, Iroquois, Miami, Algonquin totems.

Central American Tribal Tattooing:

Though tattooing was not extremely common in the Aztec (Nahua) culture there is a small amount of evidence that tattooing did occur there. It was much more common to find skeletal and dental modifications though, as well as piercings and body paint. Cortez and the Spaniards spoke about the natives of Mexico bearing tribal tattoos of their demons. It is to be assumed that this was propaganda since little to no evidence of this is in the archaeological record. Conversely, the Mayan were heavily tattooed and even had a God named Acat which blessed the tools and area in which the tattoo occured.

A figurine of a woman with child was found in Costa Rica. It is believed that she is adorned with tribal tattoos as well, but due to the limited information from her time (500-800 AD) and most importantly, her region; it is hard to say for sure.

South American Tribal Tattooing:

A region heavy in tribal tattoo history. There have been many cultures over the ages to use tattoos within their rituals and practices. A Chinchorro mans body exhumed in El Morroon the central west coast of South America has the oldest tattoo found in the Americas. It is a dotted line above his lip and he is from around 2300 BCE. The Chiribaya (700- late 1500s CE) more than likely used tattoos for both medicinal and decorative purposes, having both decorative designs and accupunture points tattooed on them. A Tiwanaku mummy from 1000 AD was found in Chile bearing, what are most likely, bird and insect or arachnid tattoos.

The Moche of Peru (100-700 CE) practiced tattooing and were heavily involved in blood sacrifice, torture, and decapitation. Images of these rituals are extremely common within the culture, as well as those of creatures and deities. The Chimu of the same region (1100-1470 CE) were very heavily tattooed and it seems that their tattooing was very personal in nature as each individuals tattoos are somewhat different in arrangement. Some are geometric in nature, while others are more animalistic. Both the male and female bore tattoos in this culture. They used a stitching method similar to that of the Inuit. It seems that being a tattooer was an actual position or job within the society, much like that in the Maori, except that they were directly paid rather than housed by the patrons.

Polynesian/Pacific Tribal Tattooing:

One of the things that impresses me most about the Polynesian/South Pacific tribal tattooing methods is that a few of the tribes actually used different sizes of chisels or groupings of objects. If you do some research you will find that this is very uncommon. The Philippines is one of the only other regions that I have found this so far. Around the world most tribal tattoos are done with one specific object and the size variation is minimal. This is not so with the Polynesian Islanders. With no disrespect meant to other tribal orders throughout the world, this just shows me that they were a bit ahead in the world of tribal tattooing.

Animals, Gods, land, monsters, plants, stars, tools, water, and specific parts of all of them are common motifs. They are typically arranged to form a larger picture, be it the structure of the home or a larger image of an animal. This larger picture may not be apparent to an outsider, but they are there. Contrarily, often with the Tahitian the overall image will be obvious but the more subtle meanings must be investigated. Cooperation, family (typically the whole tribe, not just immediate family), protection, wealth (health and success, not money), and various positive attributes are generally the meanings held within many of these symbols.

Some of the symbols used within the tribes may not necessarily look very different from each other, but the symbolism can vary quite a bit. The levels of morphing, or abstractness from the original thing, varies extensively from tribe to tribe. Some use shapes that are only recognizable to them as being what they are supposed to represent (Marquesan) all the way to being fairly obvious what the symbol is (Tahitian). Much of this comes from the level of interaction over the centuries with outside influences.

Many of the ancient traditions of the Polynesian tribes are still alive and well today. Fortunately for the tattooed parties though many of these traditions are able to be done with modern technology if desired, or with the aid of proper antibiotics to avoid death from infection.

The tattooists in these cultures are, and have been throughout time, actually paid for their services to their fellow tribesmen. This is another variance from most tribal tattooing. In my opinion it is a variance that is and was well worth it because the intricacy of the work is phenomenal.

Hawaii:

Tribal tattooing in the Hawaiian Islands was known as kakau. It served the same purposes as in most parts of the world. Everything from lucky symbols, rank denotation, and the commemoration of a great moment in ones life were tattooed upon the people. These tribal tattoos are called uhi. Gemoetric in nature, they tend to be far less dense in overall coverage. Not to say that they covered less of their bodies, but that the designs were lighter in positive/negative relationship.

It was also common for the kau' (outcasts), which were primarily used as slaves or for sacrifices, to have tattoos. It would seem that almost everyone in the Hawaiian Islands was receiving tribal tattoos for one reason or another.

Maori:

Most people today have at least heard of the Maori. If you have not here is your chance to learn a little bit. The Maori reside in New Zealand. They call their tribal tattooing "Ta Moko" and it is incredible to behold. Grooves are cut into the body with serrated stone chisels, or uhi, and pigment is pushed into the wounds. These marks would go deeper than just the skin in many cases. They use wonderfully flowing swirls and have an incredible design sense in relation to positive/negative relationships.

The Maori tribal tattoo can mean many things. Tribal designation, status, and occupation among other things are displayed by these curvilinear designs. In the 1800's it was not uncommon for a moko to be used as a signature to a legal document. Therefore, the design also represented the person. The tattoo that was used for this signature would be the facial tattoos. It is almost unimaginable in today's high speed world that one would take their time to draw one of their tattoos as a signature. These tribal tattoos obviously had great meaning and pride associated with them.

Upon death the heads of the chieftains were preserved and kept by the family. In later years this led to an ugly trade in heads between the Europeans and the Maori. The Europeans also sometimes stole these heads as well. This trade got so out of hand that sometimes slaves would be tattooed to look like chieftains and then killed so that their heads could be traded for goods. This was put to a stop by Governor Darling of New South Wales in 1831. Within the past decade or so members of the Maori nation have been petitioning to get the heads of their ancestors returned to them so that their tribal heritage would no longer be disrespected.

Marquesas:

The Marquesan islands have had a long history of turmoil within themselves. Not to say that it was easy living on the other islands by any means, but necessities could quite often be scarce so a sharp mind was even more important to keeping status. Living has been hard there and the struggle for resources has made a hard and strong people. The Chieftans had to maintain their position and did not become Chieftan by "divine right". In order to maintain control they had to continuously proove themselves by providing and keeping alliances intact.

The Marquesan tattoos are the densest in fill amongst the Polynesian tribes. Though there are two distinct styles within the culture, one with thinner spacing and one with wider spacing, they are still fairly similar to each other. There are quite often large fields of solid black. It is thought by some that this is to invoke fear into their enemies. Many of the male body suits (pahu tiki) were non-symmetrical, dark, and primarily for power and strength. Gods and warriors are common themes, as well as means of channeling ancestor's power (mana). The women's were a bit lighter in fill, fairly symmetrical on the arms and legs, and protective/constructive in nature.

Samoa:

The Samoan tribal tattoo was done with a carved boar tusk, sharpened with a piece of coral, attached to a turtle shell, and then affixed to a stick. This tool is used to carve the designs into the flesh by tapping it against the skin and then a mixture of candle nut soot and sugar water is rubbed into the resulting wound.

Just for learning's sake I will list the names that I found for some of the tools used in the Samoan tribal tattoo:

Autapulu - This is a wide tattooing comb used to fill in the large dark areas of the tattoo.

Ausogi'aso tele - This is a comb used for making thick lines.

Ausogi'aso laititi - This is a comb used for making thin lines.

Aumogo - This small comb is used for making small marks.

Sausau. - The mallet is used for striking the combs. It is almost two feet in length and made from the central rib of a coconut palm leaf.

Tuluma - The pot used for holding the tattooing combs.

Ipulama - The cup used for holding the dye. The dye is made from the soot collected from burnt lama nuts.

Tu'i - The pestle used to grind up the dye.

The traditional male tribal tattoo is called a pe'a and for a woman it is called a malu. A pe'a covers the man from his waist to below his knees. They are usually semi-dense complex geometric patterns composed of straight linear arrangements or triangles and are quite breathtaking. All of these shapes and patterns have deep meanings to them; quite often representing the home, family, cooperation, great deeds, navigational tools, ritual markings, and wealth of life (not money). This is a long and excruciating ordeal for the receiver of the tattoo. At the end of ten days or more of getting tattooed the man would exit the dwelling with his well earned tribal tattoo. From what I can see the malu covers roughly the same region but the tattoo is not as dense as the males. The tattooing extends beyond the traditional areas as well and for many of the designs, it is required that they go in different areas of the body.

The purpose of the pe'a and malu is the rite of passage into the adulthood period of life. Some symbolism still resides within the designs but that is not the primary function of the process. It is a great event and very expensive. The pea'a is broken into five separate pieces and they must be done in order. It is very ritualistic. There are some documented cases where all of the pieces are not done in such a short period of time but the custom is ten days with one day of tattooing per section and a day of rest in between followed by a day of removing any taboo that has been placed on the person receiving the tattoo. Enduring this tribal passage proves to the group that the individual is capable of performing the required duties for the tribe, whatever they may be. If you have ever wondered why so many male Samoans make most of us look tiny, this plays into it. The process was easier on the bigger and stronger, while the smaller and weaker were more likely to perish from the process or an infection afterward.

Tahiti and the other Society Islands:

Though the Society Islands originally tattooed quite similarly to the Marquesas and the Samoan Islands, they split off after their culture was affected (infected?) by European influence in the early 1800's. This led to a banning of almost all traditional activities and led to an internal war that lasted into the early 1840's. Many of the original symbols are now, of course, lost to time. A very few made it through by usage in cloth decoration.

An organization named the ario'i rose to power within the people prior to the war. They traveled around the islands and were put up by the different villages or households. They pushed for the retention of traditional ways and taught the dances, stories, artwork, songs, and history of the islands. They actually used tattoos to denote rank within the group. There were among them the ari'i, those of royal blood, which were the only ones allowed to receive the top two ranks of tattoos.

Over a hundred years later many artists in the region developed a new style that was a bit more literal in many of its symbolisms. Some of the old symbols are included, some are borrowed from other tribes, some are new. This is the way of art. This is quite often one of the most copied styles without knowing among the Polynesian tattoo styles. A thousand turtles in a Google image search have hard Tahitian style aspects with no knowledge by the artist that they are even doing this.

Australian Tribal Tattooing:

The oldest continuous culture in the world; the Australian Aboriginals. Australian Aboriginal tattooing was non-existent, yeah, I know, how? No ink, but heavy scarification (bolitj) was done with a stone knife (jimpilam kemerrempurru) and heat from a hot stick. It was impossible to trade, marry, or be involved in any ceremonies without shoulder blade scars and a hole in their nose. These were by no means to only scarification practices done, but they are the minimum requirements.
"The cuttings all over our country are also on people. The cuts are a stamp or a seal." -Yidumduma Bill Harnie

Asian Tribal Tattooing:

Asia is an enormous continent, so this section, like many others, will be developing more over time.

Indonesia:

Tattooing is heavily present in many parts of Indonesia. For now I am just going to focus on Borneo and I will come back to this region again later.

Borneo-

An island that has strong in tradition due to the limited impact of the outer world; Borneo is still full of mysticism and a simpler way. Though it is lesser in that way now that the capital of Indonesia is being relocated there. It is the third largest island in the world. The first published description of one of the tribes of Borneo, the Dayak as they are collectively referred to, was not seen until the late nineteenth century. The people of the Dayak tribes carry on tribal tattooing to this day. If a young man passes on into adulthood by making his first kill while hunting alone he is awarded with various markings to celebrate this passage.

The Dayak people believe that spirits are in everything around them. For this reason they believe that by tattooing an object or creature on them they can draw energy from these spirits. Occasionally, powdered bone or meteorite will be added to the pigments to increase the amount of power derived from their tribal tattoo.

The dog is held in high esteem there and many of their traditional designs have the dog as the foundation for the design, which is then turned into another creature. Abstractions of plants and animals that are believed to bring strength or protection are very common tattoos. Delicious fruit and flowers of those fruits are also topics of choice. It is believed that evil spirits can be kept at bay by wearing these tattoos or that victory in battle can be achieved by calling on the good spirits. Some tattoos are used to mark changes from one phase of life into another, as well as going on a walk-about.

Their tattoos are still hand tapped to this day. The pigments are similar to those of many other tribes in that they usually use soot or powdered charcoal mixed with fluids. The process of tattooing among the Dayak is very ritualistic. Before beginning the tattoo the tattooist sacrifices fowl of some sort to their ancestor spirits. Its blood is spilled and the chanting begins. After this ceremony the tribal tattoo may begin. A tattoo that is being given to a young man that has come of age is observed by all of the men in the village. They dress in the bark cloth of the mulberry tree, which is also used in funeral ceremonies. From what I can comprehend there is a deep connection between the mulberry cloth and changes within their lives be they beginnings or endings.

The Dayak are also known for their prowess as headhunters. This tradition, which is followed much less these days, is also commemorated with a tattoo. After a head is taken the warrior typically receives a zoomorphic image on his fingers. This is called a tegulun. There are fewer of these tattoos around every year.

The women of the Dayak are also tattooed in a fashion similar to the Illinois of North America. They would receive tribal tattoos that represent their skills in weaving or other works that their lives entailed. Going back to the belief in spirits the women would consult with spirits before weaving in order to avoid irritating them and to bring success at their task.

I would definitely recommend further studying of the Dayak and their tribal traditions. From what I have read and learned so far they are a people full of lore and rich in history.
Terms to lookup: Ibans, Kayans, Kenyahs, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, New Guinea

Philippines:

There are many tattooing traditions amongst the Philippine Islands with some archaeological sites dating back over 2500 years. With well over 7000 islands and a great number of different paths chosen by the residents over the millenia this is really no surprise. The names used by the different tribes for tattoos (for starters) are batek, batik, batok, batuk, buri, patik, pika, tatak, and many other names. There may be more names for the art of tattooing in this region than anywhere else on the planet. This is obviously due to the many different cultures that have evolved.

As in North American tribal tattooing there were great diversities between the reasons for tattoos since there were so many varying cultures. The majority of the styles of tattoos were geometric in nature, much like the Polynesian. Also, as with the Polynesian tribes they used different materials and a couple of sizes of needle groupings. Whatever object was turned into a needle (bamboo, bone, horn, ivory, thorns, etc.) would be affixed to a handle and then tapped into the skin. The wounds would be made either on top of ink laid in the pattern, or within an ink drawing of the pattern. Ink was typically made of soot mixed with varying fluids. Unusually, both men and women did the tattooing. It is typically one or the other within many tribes. The tattooers were paid in this culture as well. When some of the full body suits are seen this is not surprising. Some of these tribes considered tattoos to be as clothing and would wear little more than a loincloth.

There are so many different tribes, still today, in the Philippines that they are classified into groups. Most of these cultures still tattoo to this day. I hope to eventually go further into depth on all of these, but will just list them for now. Aeta, Bicolano, Bontoc, Cordilleran, Ibaloi, Ibanag, Ifugao, Ilocano, Itneg, Kalinga, Manobo, Pangasinan, T'boli, Tagalog, and Visayan.

Japan:

The natives of Japan, the Ainu, practiced ritual tribal tattooing for multiple reasons. The women would tattoo themselves to resemble their goddess so that they might scare away demons that bring disease. They tattooed their mouths, arms, hands, their clitoris, and sometimes their foreheads. They also re-tattooed their mouths and hands in later years to cure poor eyesight. Girls that were of age to take their place in society were marked with tribal tattoos as well as those that were wed. If a woman was not properly tattooed before being wed she was thought to have committed a sin and would be instantly damned at death. It seems to me that the females bore the majority of significant tribal tattoos. The process of tattooing was simply cutting the flesh and rubbing wood ashes into the wounds.

It is believed that some tribes in Alaska actually learned to tattoo from the Ainu. The later developing tattoo art in Japan is thought to have no ties with this original form practiced by the Ainu. Much of the earliest thoughts of tattooing in Japan are speculation, mainly derived from sculptures of figures bearing marks. There is very little documentation of positive identification of tattoos until around 300 B.C.

In later years tattoos gained a criminal stigma, such as the bodysuits once adorned by the yakuza, a Japanese crime organization. They were actually used as a punishment for violators of the law. A three stroked symbol for dog was applied upon the forehead, one stroke per offense. There is a period in Japanese history when they were actually banned. To this day there are still ill connotations attached to tattoos in Japan; they are more accepted than they have been in a very, very long time. I would go further into detail about this but we are wandering into periods of time that are a little far along to be considered tribal to me.

Terms to look up: irezumi, tebori, horimonoshi.

China:

Tattooing entered China at about 2000 BC. There is really very little information on this other than a few brief mentions in mythology and text. The Baiyue are said to have been a tribe of tattooed wild people, but there is little evidence other than a commonly quoted line from one person. This is likely similar to the Norse wearing horned helmets because they were demons in battle being reported by a terrified individual. The Tai Nua and Tai Leu men would have Buddhist sutras and spells tattooed on them. Both of these groups have spread out over time to inhabit Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

There was also the discovery of the Loulan Beauty in 1980 among the Tarim mummies, most of which were tattooed, but they were of Caucasian decent. Their tattoos are barely described by those that found them except for crescent moon like shapes along with circles. I'm quite sure that there was more. Other than as a punishment it became illegal to tattoo during the reign of Emperor Qin in 200 BC. I find this to be interesting because there were quite a few cultures that tattooed acupuncture points on their bodies. I would have assumed the same to occur in China with acupuncture being used so predominantly in the Chinese culture. Another interesting thing about this being that Chinese art has and does influence so many tattoo cultures in modern times in other countries around the world. Chinese characters and other themes are extremely popular throughout modern society.

Scythian:

The Scythians were a nomadic people that lived in Asia from approximately 2000 BC until 1000 AD. They came into contact with most of the great civilizations throughout Europe and Asia. The previously oldest known picture tattoos were found on a chieftain in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia in 1947 and they dated back to 400-300 BCE. He had multiple tribal zoomorphic designs and many markings to celebrate the defeat or killing of his enemies. One of them being a ram with reversed haunches showing that it had been killed. This discovery has now been preceded by a mummy that was reinspected from Southern Egypt shown with two horned creatures on it.

Middle Eastern Tribal Tattooing:

There was once an ancient tradition of cutting and rubbing the ashes from a funeral pyre into ones wounds. This would allow the wearer to carry the ashes of their loved one with them always. This is a tribal form of our modern "In Memory" tattoos. We may not typically carry their ashes, but it still allows for the remembrance of a loved one. The cutting was also considered a way of expressing extreme sorrow and respect for the dead individual.

For much of the history of the Middle East tattooing has been forbidden by the Muslim faith. Since many of the people in this region are followers of Islamic traditions, there hasn't been much tattooing in this region.

However, the Bedouin tribes have been tattooing for centuries. The Bedouin women wore facial tattoos to symbolize beauty and social status. They also tattooed their ankles and wrists. Some of their tattoos are to ward off evil spirits or to gain strength. Some placements of dots upon the sides of the head or above the eyes are for healing different ailments.
Later terms to research: Kurd, Yezidi.

African Tribal Tattooing:

Tribal tattooing doesn't seem to occur in such a traditional fashion in most of Africa. I say this because pigment doesn't seem to be included in the marking of the skin, for the most part. I find this odd because some of the earliest recording of tattooing can be traced to Egypt in 2134-1991 BCE. Of course two mummies have been discovered that both have tattoos and they date back to around 3351-3017 BCE, which is almost a thousand years earlier than Amunet. The tattoos were disregarded as smudges for years until they were revisited with infrared scanning. The woman has a series of s-shapes and the man has two slightly overlapping horned creatures.

It seems to me that tattooing has been greatly replaced by scarification there. Tribes in Africa tended to do this more than anything else. Wounds are cut into the skin and either the wound is packed with a substance, sometimes foul, so that it becomes raised and scarred, or it is rubbed with ash or sand until the wound rises up.

The scarred markings still serve many of the same purposes as the tribal tattoos from around the world though. They indicate rank, affiliation, and are also used as a rite of passage. I was able to only find a couple mentions of actual tattooing and they were associated with poorly described Ethiopian wedding customs and the coming of age for men in other regions so that they were able to work. The men from Umudioka, Dunukofia travel place to place performing ichi (primarily facial tattooing) on the young men. This is a sign of becoming a man in their tribal culture.

Berber:

The Berber culture (Amazigh) in North Africa goes back thousands of years. There are artifacts showing tattoos on a Libyan (assumably Berber) chieftan from around 1184 BCE. Facial tattoos were extremely common amongst their women, as well as on their feet and arms. They were used to show beauty, health, and protection. Typically delicate patterns derived from short, straight lines. Sometimes they also helped to denote family affiliation.
It seems that it was the women that were primarily tattooed in this culture and that their tattoos would evolve with them throughout their lives. The siyala tattoo is a representation of a palm tree that runs from the bottom lip onto the chin and is tied to the Carthaginian goddess Tanit. This is considered one of the most beautiful symbols a woman can have on her face and it represents fertility. Diamond shapes, including eyes or flowers protect against evil spirits in their culture.
The process included juice from fava bean leaves, needles, coal, and incense and herbs (assumably to burn while tattooing). The tattooers are typically middle aged women. These tattoos are not always optional, as sometimes they are forcefully given.
In recent years tattooing has more or less screached to a halt. Between Islamic traditions and French occupations, as well as it being looked down on in "modern" society it is fading out as a tradition. It has since been replaced with Henna apparently.
Later terms: Egyptian, cicatrization

European Tribal Tattooing:

So as we have already discussed at the beginning of this article there is Otzi, so far the oldest known remains with tattoo marks upon them. There is much more tattoing history in Europe than just this though.

Southern Europe:

Romans-

The Romans marked their slaves and criminals to set them apart from the rest of society. This may not be tribal tattooing, but it is still a small piece of history. The Roman military became intrigued with tattooing after invading the British Isles. It was not uncommon for a Roman soldier to receive a tattoo. Emperor Constantine eventually banned all forms of tattooing in the third century.

Christians would get ichthys (Jesus fish) tattoos as subtle identifiers of their faith. Having the tattoos would allow them to avoid speaking before knowing whether or not someone shared their beliefs and thereby allow them to remain silent rather than be executed. This also is not tribal per se, but it is still very old.
Later terms: Illyrian, Thracian

Central Europe:

Celts, Germanians, and Gauls would wear tattoos to display family crests before Pope Hadrian's edict in 787 CE, which banned the practice of tattooing. Prior to this point it was thought by many that the Celts would tattoo their entire bodies blue with woad. The truth of the matter being that this muddy dye was painted on for battle and was quite an effective scare tactic.

It was quite common in the ancient times for the varying tribes of Europe to don animal totems similar to those worn by the Scythians. Animals carried powerful meaning since they were quite often a means to survive. Be it through the digestion of their flesh, the drinking of their milk, or the wearing of their hide; animals were important. There are also many Celtic stories that deal with animals, as with most cultures, I encourage you to read these. They can be as interesting as the mythology of ancient Greece or Rome.

Throughout time the simple tribal tattoo forms of totem animals would develop into the intricate knotted zoomorphic creations of the monks and then into the modern tattoo designs of a flourishing technology. Ironically, during the time of the monks tattooing was prohibited in most of Europe. It was thought to challenge the church and be a lingering form of Paganism.

Northern Europe: coming soon

In Closing:

So I think that it becomes obvious that a tribal tattoo is a tattoo which is received within the social compact of an early society. Whatever symbols and uses that group has agreed upon for these markings determine what was received or earned. The tattoos were not typically mere decoration, they served a purpose. I, and many others, believe that as long as you understand the purpose and the usage of the tattoo that recieving them is completely acceptable. An homage to a tribe that you are interested in and have respect for is a beautiful thing. Never take limited or specialized symbols for yourself if you are not a member or decendant of that tribe though. These are all things that you can learn through research. It is important that this information be passed on and that these cultures are respected and do not simply vanish completely from existance. For example there are more people alive today that can speak some of the Sioux dialects from North America than there are those of pure Sioux ancestory. This is obviously sad on one hand, but at least some traditions can still be passed on to future generations and they will never truly disappear.

I hope that this has been an interesting and informative beginning for years of future study of either where and how your ancestors began their traditions, or, a stepping stone in your search for more information to fuel your love for tattooing. I have only scratched the surface here since there are soooooooooo many ancient cultures. As you can see though, there are many common ties between all of these traditions and there is good reason for that. We are all human, we make some of the same choices, be they right or wrong.

Nowadays many of these ancient traditions have passed by the wayside, while others have carried on. What cannot be questioned is that tattooing, be it tribal or not, will continue for many generations. It is inherent in most of our psyches to want to decorate our bodies. Be it with jewelry, clothing, or permanent artwork, we strive to decorate. Just as many of our ancestors did we adorn ourselves to separate, unify, or just because we like the way something looks on our bodies.
Many of these ancient patterns have given way to swirls, curvilinear designs, key-patterns, spikes, knots, and totems that belong to the creator of the design and the bearer of the art more so than to any tribe. Even though the majority of these modern tribal tattoo designs bare no true tribal designation, when worn by those that understand where they are based they honor those that have passed and appear to be founding the creation of what may be known to future historians as "the new tribe". Hopefully a tribe of humankind that can cooperate and flourish.

Here is a link to a site that was very helpful in my search for information: https://www.larskrutak.com/ it was by no means the only source of information used as reference for this article, but I think that you will find it to be most interesting. The work that Mr. Krutak and his associates are doing is crucial for the future remembrance of this part of human history which is so commonly overlooked by many scientists. Our drive to decorate, how, and why we do so represent our societies and cultures as much as how we have evolved from wood or stone tools to the use and creation of mind blowing composites and incredible alloys.

Thank You for your time, No AI was used in the writing of this article, :))))))
Later Days,
Ray