Tattoos have always been more than decoration. They were marks that conveyed social status or familial ties, symbols of spirituality or achievements, or expressions of philosophies.
They also were bold black shapes, dots, lines, and other geometric patterns, often used in ritualistic or sacred practices. The oldest evidence of tattoos is Ötzi the Iceman, who died about 5,300 years ago in the Alps. His body showed simple black lines, probably applied with a sharp object like a bone needle.
The International Journal of Paleopathology published a study suggesting that the placement of tattoos on the body aligns with acupuncture points, perhaps to treat illness or pain. The same study examined the tattoos on the Princess of Ukok, who died around 500 BCE in what is now southwestern Siberia. Her tattoos depicted ornate mythological creatures and are believed to be both ritualistic and symbolic.
Clean designPolynesian meanings and body placement
In Polynesia, tattoos marked men as they grew up, recording their lives and spiritual journeys. In his book Skin: A Natural History, science writer David Freedberg notes that Polynesian men’s tattoos functioned “as biographical and spiritual records.” Their placement was tied to cosmology, and because Polynesians shared a culture across the region, their tattoos reflected that shared identity.
Freedberg explains: “The upper body represented the heavens and spirituality; the lower body represented the world and life on earth. The midsection, where the two realms met, represented the space between Rangi (sky) and Papa (earth), the primordial couple who separated to create the universe. To live in harmony, one must balance the upper and lower parts.”
Men could collect new tattoos at each location they visited, and thus their bodies became a record of all the places they had been. As Freedberg writes, “A man’s body was covered with a story. It was a tradition passed down from generation to generation. It was a cultural symbol. And it was a tattoo.”
The shared language of Polynesian tattoos comes from the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language group. This common origin explains why the same symbols appear throughout Polynesia.
Papua New Guinea and the limits of interpretation
But while some traditions have clear meanings, others do not. For example, the traditional tattoos of Papua New Guinea recorded combat status and headhunting exploits, but those traditions disappeared by World War II. Headhunting was outlawed, and missionaries discouraged initiation ceremonies. Some tribes that practiced headhunting included the Motu, Waima, Aroma, Hula, Mekeo, Mailu, and related groups in the southwest of the island. Men displayed markings on their chests related to their exploits in the headhunt, and headhunters secluded themselves after an expedition, returning only after being assured that the ghost of the dead would not come back to haunt them.
Clean designTattoos such as the Maori ta moko or the Samoan tatau have clearly codified closed meaning and should be respected for their historical significance. But when we try to interpret them motif by motif, we’re creating our own rules for them. Similarly, the genealogical and ceremonial systems that accompany tribal tattoos deserve the same respect as the tattoos themselves.
It is safe to say that the general principle behind these tattoos is important, rather than trying to make up a rulebook for how every individual symbol means something.
Similarly, there is a relationship between Aztec and wider Mesoamerican body art and tribal tattoos, but even less certainty about its meaning.
Neo-tribal revival
The revival of tribal tattoos into contemporary tattooing began in the early 1970s, when artists began to travel to find out what they meant before putting them on people. One such artist was Don Ed Hardy, whom I met in 1976. He got serious about tattooing in 1981 and then, in the early 1990s, wrote a booklet of his work that set off a neo-tribal revival.
Hardy opened Black Wave Tattoo in Los Angeles in 1992 and traveled to Samoa and Tahiti to learn more about tribal tattooing. Today he works at Spiral Tattoo in Ann Arbor, Michigan.