Do you have a tattoo? Otzi the IceMan has 57 of them. His 5000-year-old body was discovered in 1991, on a mountain between Austria and Italy, by German tourists trekking the Oetz Valley. The IceMan is one of the best preserved Neolithic corpses ever found.
He was still wearing goatskin leggings and a grass cape. His copper-headed axe and a quiver full of arrows were lying nearby.
Maybe Otzi will show you his tattoos if you show him yours. He has a cross on the inside of the left knee, numerous parallel lines on his ankles, and six 15 centimeter straight lines above his kidneys. There is speculation that the tattoos were applied for therapeutic treatment of arthritis.
Tattooing has existed across cultures since 12,000 BC, though the purpose varies from culture to culture. The word tattoo is said to derive from the Polynesian word ‘ta’ which means to strike something, and the Tahitian word ‘tatau’ which means to mark something twice.
In Borneo, women tattooed symbols on their forearm indicating their particular skill. The Greeks used tattooing for communication among spies; markings identified the spies and showed their rank. Some tattoos are for status or to show membership. Others are strictly for adornment. There are also demeaning uses of tattoos throughout history. The Romans used them to mark criminals and slaves.
Tattoos (once stereotyped as the body art of sailors, jailbirds, and bikers) have had a resurgence in the last few decades. They’ve become a hot topic of discussion at more than one family dinner table. Teenagers coming of age begin to ask the hard questions: “When can I get my nose pierced? Oh, and can I get a tattoo?”
Write about your relationship to tattoos. Are you offended by them? Or are they a form of self-expression. If you have a body art tattoo, write about the color, imagery, and location. Where did you have it done? Most people choose symbols that mean something to them. Did you design your tattoo? Was it painful to sit under the needle? How did you get through the pain.
Using the rules of Writing Practice, write as many details as you can remember.
If you always wanted a tattoo but could never get up the nerve, write about that. If your teenage daughter or son has a tattoo, write about your experiences negotiating with them. If you gave them a firm, “No!” – why?
Remember the cover of the Rolling Stones 1981 album, Tattoo You? The record spent nine weeks at Number One, boosted by radio favorites “Start Me Up” and “Waiting on a Friend.” Write about the album cover art. Do you remember any other music about tattoos?
What’s the most shocking body art tattoo you’ve ever seen? If you need images to stimulate your memory, check out the art at Tattoo You. Or the photographs and sketches at A Brief History of Tattoos.
Love, Central Pennsylvania, June 2007, all photographs in this post © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, March 3rd, 2008
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