Tattoos Case

Why are people doing it? This is probably the most asked question by individuals

that does not have any tattoos and just do not understand why people are getting them.

Tutoring those specific individuals on tattooing and maybe lifting the blanket from these

popular phenomena that are growing by the day would help the critics understand. One should not judge individuals in the 21st century, before one has some background

knowledge on the history of tattooing, where and when tattooing all started. Humans

have marked their bodies with tattoos for many years and to understand tattooing, one

should determine the purpose, pros, and cons in today's society.

The ancient history of tattoos started its origin of civilization, a significant time ago in history that dates back to 12,000 years B.C. (Osborn, 2006). Otzi the 5,200-year-old Iceman was found near Hauslabjoch in the Otzal Alps, having permanent tattoo marks on different areas of his well-preserved body (Fowler, 2000). Professor Don Brothwell of the University of York, who examined Otzi, described the tattoo marks as dots and small crosses on his lower spine, knee, and ankle (Lineberry, 2007). The Egyptian mummified bodies, showed artfully tattooed patterns, dating back between 700 B.C and 2,000 B.C. Even small figurines of ancient times, which were found buried with the mummified bodies, showed signs of tattoo markings similar to those of the Egyptian mummies.

Ancient methods used for tattooing were discovered in Egypt, dated to c. 1450 B.C and were small bronze implements, used to apply body art (Lineberry, 2007). Although many different tribes or nations were applying tattoos to their bodies, they all used different techniques in doing so. One method includes Thai and various ancient techniques by simply cutting the skin and rubbing in charcoal. The Japanese used the Tebori and Irezumi methods, which literally means to carve into the skin by hand (Johnson, 2006). Mike Wamoult (2008) wrote in his article that the earliest tattoos were given to pregnant women on their upper legs, which had a symbolic but preventative meaning to avoid complications with childbirth. Some believe tattooing had some kind of therapeutic meaning, to relieve and eliminate pain.

Ancient purposes for tattoos vary of different reasons such as spirituality, protection, strength, and history (Wamoult, 2008). As in the case of Otzi the Iceman, his tattoo markings were only on certain areas of his body and the suggestions is that those tattoos were applied to ease pain of the joints (Lineberry, 2007). Research show that tattoos was given to young tribal men for identification reasons; that those young tribal men reached the required age to be hunters and were eligible,