Today, tattooing is more popular and accepted than ever before in history. People who get tattoos usually see them as a way of expressing themselves. In America, more than one third of young adults have at least one tattoo. They are considered cool, acceptable and attractive. In this article we will take a quick look at the history of tattooing.

Tattooing is one of the oldest ways of decorating the human body. The earliest evidence of this practice was discovered on a 5,300-year-old mummy found on a mountain between Austria and Italy. Otzi the Iceman, as the mummy is called, had more that 50 tattoos on his body consisting mostly of simple dots and lines on his lower back, left knee, and ankles.

Tattoo art was also very widespread in ancient Egypt. Tattoos was found on mummies dating back as far as the third millennium BC. One of the most famous tattooed mummies is a priestess of the goddess Hathor that lived at Thebes some time between 2160 - 1994 BC.

The ancient Egyptians spread the art of tattooing all around the ancient world - from Greece and Rome to Arabia, Persia, China and Japan. Tattoos has always been very important in the Polynesian culture as well as to Aztec, Mayan, and Inca cultures.

Polynesians practiced tattooing long before the arrival of Europeans in the South Pacific. To them tattoos had spiritual and cultural meanings. Soon after they were visited by Captain Cook and other explorers, tattooing became a common practice in the British navy.

Tattoo comes from a Polynesian word “tattau,” which means to mark or brand someone. The first westerner to use this word was Captain James Cook when he met Polynesians in 1768. He mentioned it in his journals.

Thanks to sailors and explorers in the eighteenth century, tattoos gradually became popular in the western world. In the twenty-first century they are one of the most popular choices for body art and appear to have gained a wide social acceptance.

Tags: Tattoos