Editing Tattoo (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of tattooing}}
[[File:Whang-od tattooing.jpg|thumb|left|[[Whang-od]], the last ''mambabatok'' (traditional Kalinga tattooist) of the [[Kalinga (province)|Kalinga]] in the [[Philippines]], performing a traditional batek tattoo]]
Preserved tattoos on ancient [[mummies|mummified]] human remains reveal that tattooing has been practiced throughout the world for thousands of years.<ref name="Oldest Tattoos">{{cite journal |last1=Deter-Wolf |first1=Aaron |last2=Robitaille |first2=Benoît |last3=Krutak |first3=Lars |last4=Galliot |first4=Sébastien |title=The World's Oldest Tattoos |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |date=February 2016 |volume=5 |pages=19–24 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.11.007 |bibcode=2016JArSR...5...19D |s2cid=162580662 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01227846/file/OldestTattoos.pdf}}</ref> In 2015, scientific re-assessment of the age of the two oldest known tattooed mummies identified [[Ötzi]] as the oldest example then known. This body, with 61 tattoos, was found embedded in glacial ice in the [[Alps]], and was dated to 3250 BC.<ref name="Oldest Tattoos" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Scallan |first1=Marilyn |title=Ancient Ink: Iceman Otzi Has World's Oldest Tattoos |url=http://smithsonianscience.si.edu/2015/12/debate-over-worlds-oldest-tattoo-is-over-for-now/ |access-date=19 December 2015 |publisher=Smithsonian Science News |date=9 December 2015}}</ref> In 2018, the oldest [[Figurative art|figurative]] tattoos in the world were discovered on two mummies from Egypt which are dated between 3351 and 3017 BC.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ghosh |first=Pallab |date=1 March 2018 |title='Oldest tattoo' found on 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummies |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43230202 |work=[[BBC]] |access-date=8 March 2018}}</ref>

Ancient tattooing was most widely practiced among the [[Austronesian people]]. It was one of the early technologies developed by the Proto-Austronesians in [[Taiwan]] and coastal [[South China]] prior to at least 1500 BC, before the Austronesian expansion into the islands of the [[Indo-Pacific]].<ref name="kirch">{{cite book |author=Patrick Vinton Kirch |title=A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai'i |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2012 |pages=31–32 |isbn=978-0-520-27330-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VFJpUG5Nzh4C&pg=PA31}}</ref><ref name="fuery">{{cite book |last1=Furey |first1=Louise |author-link1=Louise Furey |editor=Lars Krutak & Aaron Deter-Wolf |title=Ancient Ink: The Archaeology of Tattooing |chapter=Archeological Evidence for Tattooing in Polynesia and Micronesia |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |year=2017 |pages=159–184 |isbn=978-0-295-74284-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKZGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT171}}</ref> It may have originally been associated with [[headhunting]].<ref name="bald">{{cite book |last=Baldick |first=Julian |title=Ancient Religions of the Austronesian World: From Australasia to Taiwan |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2013 |page=3 |isbn=978-1-78076-366-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2c2KRnKqWgoC&pg=PA3}}</ref> Tattooing traditions, including facial tattooing, can be found among all Austronesian subgroups, including [[Taiwanese indigenous peoples]], [[Maritime Southeast Asia|Islander Southeast Asians]], [[Micronesian people|Micronesians]], [[Polynesians]], and the [[Malagasy people]]. [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesians]] used the characteristic hafted skin-puncturing technique, using a small mallet and a piercing implement made from ''[[Citrus]]'' thorns, fish bone, bone, and oyster shells.<ref name="covered" /><ref name="fuery" /><ref name=Maori.com>{{cite web |title=Maori Tattoo |url=http://www.maori.com/tattoo |website=Maori.com |publisher=Maori Tourism Limited |access-date=17 July 2015 |archive-date=20 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720220252/http://www.maori.com/tattoo |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Ancient tattooing traditions have also been documented among [[Indigenous people of New Guinea|Papuans]] and [[Melanesians]], with their use of distinctive [[obsidian]] skin piercers. Some archeological sites with these implements are associated with the Austronesian migration into [[Papua New Guinea]] and [[Melanesia]]. But other sites are older than the Austronesian expansion, being dated to around 1650 to 2000 BC, suggesting that there was a preexisting tattooing tradition in the region.<ref name="fuery" />
[[File:Ana_Eva_Hei,_profile_view_by_Walter_Knoche,_1911.jpg|thumb|[[Ana Eva Hei]], profile view by Walter Knoche, 1911]]
Among other ethnolinguistic groups, tattooing was also practiced among the [[Ainu people]] of Japan; some [[Austroasian]]s of [[Indochina]]; [[Berber people|Berber]] women of [[Tamazgha]] (North Africa);<ref name="berber">{{cite web |url=http://ethnicjewelsmagazine.com/facial-tattooing-of-berber-women-by-sarah-corbett/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519211810/http://ethnicjewelsmagazine.com/facial-tattooing-of-berber-women-by-sarah-corbett/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=19 May 2014 |title=Facial Tattooing of Berber Women |last=Corbett |first=Sarah |date=6 February 2016 |magazine=Ethnic Jewels Magazine |access-date=18 May 2018}}</ref> the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]], [[Fulani people|Fulani]] and [[Hausa people|Hausa]] people of [[Nigeria]];<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilson-Fall |first1=Wendy |title=The Motive of the Motif Tattoos of Fulbe Pastoralists |journal=African Arts |date=Spring 2014 |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=54–65 |doi=10.1162/AFAR_a_00122 |s2cid=53477985}}</ref> [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] of the [[Pre-Columbian era|Pre-Columbian Americas]];<ref name="Evans">Evans, Susan, Toby. 2013. Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. 3rd Edition.</ref> people of [[Rapa Nui tattooing|Rapa Nui]];<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Kaeppler |first=Adrienne L. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362024307 |title=The iconic tattooed man of easter island: an illustrated life |date=2018 |publisher=EISP Foundation Mana Press |isbn=978-1-7324952-0-3 |location=Santa Monica, CA |pages=37, 51}}</ref> [[Picts]] of [[British Iron Age|Iron Age Britain]];<ref name="carr">{{cite journal |last=Carr |first=Gillian |year=2005 |title=Woad, tattoing, and identity in later Iron Age and Early Roman Britain |journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=273–292 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0092.2005.00236.x}}</ref> and [[Paleo-Balkan languages|Paleo-Balkan peoples]] ([[Illyrians]] and [[Thracians]], as well as [[Daunians]] in [[Apulia]]), a tradition that has been preserved in the western [[Balkans]] by [[Albanians]] ([[Albanian traditional tattooing]]), Catholics in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] ([[Sicanje]]), and women of some [[Vlachs|Vlach]] communities.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lelaj|first=Olsi|title=Mbi tatuazhin në shoqërinë shqiptare|trans-title=On Tattoo in the Albanian Society|journal=[[Kultura Popullore]]|volume=34|issue=71–72|year=2015|issn=2309-5717|publisher=[[Centre of Albanological Studies]]|pages=91–118}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Norman|first=Camilla|chapter=Illyrian Vestiges in Daunian Costume: tattoos, string aprons and a helmet|title=Realtà medioadriatiche a confronto: contatti e scambi tra le due sponde. Atti del convegno Termoli 22-23 luglio 2016|editor=Gianfranco De Benedittis|publisher=Università degli Studi del Molise|place=Campobasso|year=2018|pages=57–71}}</ref>

=== Egypt and Sudan ===
The earliest figural tattoos were identified on the [[Mummy|naturally mummified]] human remains of a male buried within a shallow grave from Gebelein in upper [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], and [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to around 3351-3017 BC.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Renée  |date=2018 |title=Natural Mummies from Predynastic Egypt Reveal the World's Earliest Figural Tattoos |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=92 |pages=116–125 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2018.02.002  |bibcode=2018JArSc..92..116F  |url=https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/8a368c3c-d138-4a04-a203-fef01b8ed673  |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> The male mummy, named the “Gebelein man”, had two overlapping tattoos on his right forearm, one depicting a [[Bovinae|bovine]], and the other depicting another horned animal, perhaps a [[barbary sheep]] or another bovine.<ref name=":4" /> The Gebelein man was approximately 18–21 years of age when he died, suggesting that he received his tattoos at an early age.

The cultures of Ancient Egypt and Ancient [[Nubia]], located in modern-day [[Sudan]], while diverse and multifaceted within their own rights, often have roots in a shared cultural heritage such as the tradition of tattooing.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Tassie |first=Geoffrey |date=2003 |title=Identifying the Practice of Tattooing in Ancient Egypt and Nubia |journal=Papers from the Institute of Archaeology |volume=14 |pages=85–101|doi=10.5334/pia.200 |doi-access=free }}</ref> While the Gebelein man was buried in Egypt, most discoveries of tattooed individuals from this region are from Ancient Nubia. In Nubia, the earliest identified human remains with tattoos are dated to the C-Group period, which lasted from 2345 to 1500 BC and contemporaneous with the First Intermediate period through the Second Intermediate period in Ancient Egypt.<ref name=":5" /> During this C-Group period, only women have been found with tattoos, suggesting that tattooing was gendered at this time.<ref name=":5" /> Tattoos of this period usually consist of dotted patterns and lines, and typically were located on the abdomen, chest, arms or legs.<ref name=":5" />

By 500 BC, there is evidence of tattooing on men in Ancient Nubia, typically on the hands or arms, and rarely on the face.<ref name=":5" /> There is also more evidence of figural tattooing around this period, typically found on female human remains. These figural tattoos encompassed a wide variety of images, such as abstract chains of “sss” or depictions of gods and goddesses.<ref name=":4" /> In Nubia, a female mummy from [[Temple of Aksha|Aksha]] dated to the 4th century BC contains a tattoo of the [[Ancient Egyptian deities|Egyptian deity]] Bes on her thigh.<ref name=":5" /> [[Bes]], a dwarfed god, is often associated with fertility and childbirth, and was a popular image tattooed onto women both in Egypt and Nubia, as seen in both [[Iconography|iconographic]] examples, such as tomb paintings, and on human remains.<ref name=":5" />

No ancient tattoo instruments or tools have been confidently identified at [[archaeological excavation]]s in either Egypt or Sudan, due to the perishable nature of the tools and their possibility for misidentification. However, tattoos during this period were created with metal needles or awls, tools typically associated with the work of domestic women.<ref name=":5" />

=== China ===
[[File:Yue statue.jpg|thumb|180px|A [[Baiyue|Yue]] ("barbarian") statue of a tattooed man with short hair from the [[para-Austronesian]] cultures of southern China, from the [[Zhejiang Provincial Museum]]]]
Cemeteries throughout the [[Tarim Basin]] ([[Xinjiang]] of western China) including the sites of [[Qäwrighul]], [[Yanghai]], [[Shengjindian]], Zaghunluq, and Qizilchoqa have revealed [[Tarim mummies|several tattooed mummies]] with Western Asian/Indo-European physical traits and cultural materials. These date from between 2100 and 550 BC.<ref name="Oldest Tattoos" />

In ancient China, tattoos were considered a barbaric practice associated with the [[Baiyue|Yue]] peoples of southeastern and southern China. Tattoos were often referred to in literature depicting bandits and folk heroes. As late as the [[Qing dynasty]],{{when|date=August 2013}}<!--specifically--> it was common practice to tattoo [[Chinese characters|characters]] such as {{lang|zh|囚}} ("Prisoner") on convicted criminals' faces. Although relatively rare during most periods of Chinese history, [[Slavery in China|slaves]] were also sometimes marked to display ownership.

However, tattoos seem to have remained a part of southern culture. [[Marco Polo]] wrote of [[Quanzhou]], "Many come hither from Upper India to have their bodies painted with the needle in the way we have elsewhere described, there being many adepts at this craft in the city". At least three of the main characters {{ndash}} [[Lu Zhishen]], Shi Jin (史進), and Yan Ching (燕青) {{ndash}} in the classic novel ''[[Water Margin]]'' are described as having tattoos covering nearly all of their bodies. [[Wu Song]] was sentenced to a facial tattoo describing his crime after killing Xi Menqing (西門慶) to avenge his brother. In addition, [[Chinese mythology|Chinese legend]] claimed the mother of [[Yue Fei]] (a famous [[Song dynasty|Song]] general) tattooed the words "Repay the Country with Pure Loyalty" ({{lang|zh|精忠報國}}, ''jing zhong bao guo'') down her son's back before he left to join the army.

=== Europe ===
[[File:Prince Giolo, Son to the King of Moangis a1528388.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Giolo (real name Jeoly) of [[Miangas]], who became enslaved in [[Mindanao]] and bought by the English [[William Dampier]] together with Jeoly's mother, who died at sea. Jeoly was exhibited in London in a [[human zoo]] in 1691 to large crowds, until he died of [[smallpox]] three months later. Throughout the time he was exhibited, Dampier gained a fortune.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mangubat |first=Lio |date=Nov 2, 2017 |title=The True Story of the Mindanaoan Slave Whose Skin Was Displayed at Oxford |url=https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/the-true-story-of-the-mindanaoan-slave-whose-skin-was-displayed-at-oxford-a00029-20171102-lfrm2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530221346/https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/the-true-story-of-the-mindanaoan-slave-whose-skin-was-displayed-at-oxford-a00029-20171102-lfrm2 |archive-date=May 30, 2023 |website=Esquire Philippines}}</ref><ref name="Etching of Prince Giolo">Savage, John (c. 1692). [http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=153334 "Etching of Prince Giolo"]. State Library of New South Wales.</ref><ref name="auto" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Barnes |first=Geraldine |year=2006 |title=Curiosity, Wonder, and William Dampier's Painted Prince |journal=Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=31–50 |doi=10.1353/jem.2006.0002 |s2cid=159686056}}</ref>]]

In 1566, French sailors [[Human trafficking|abducted]] an [[Inuit|Inuk]] woman and her child in modern-day [[Labrador]] and brought her to the city of [[Antwerp]] in modern-day [[Belgium]]. The mother was tattooed while the child was unmarked. In Antwerp, the two were put on display at a local tavern at least until 1567, with handbills promoting the event being distributed in the city. In 1577, English [[privateer]] [[Martin Frobisher]] captured two Inuit and brought them back to England for display. One of the Inuit was a tattooed woman from [[Baffin Island]], who was illustrated by the English cartographer [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]].<ref name="Krutak2">{{cite web |last1=Krutak |first1=Lars |title=Myth Busting Tattoo (Art) History |url=https://www.larskrutak.com/myth-busting-tattoo-art-history/ |website=Lars Krutak: Tattoo Anthropologist |date=22 August 2013 |access-date=25 February 2020}}</ref>

In 1691, [[William Dampier]] brought to London a Filipino man named [[Jeoly]] or Giolo from the island of [[Mindanao]] (Philippines) who had a tattooed body. Dampier exhibited Jeoly in a [[human zoo]] to make a fortune and falsely branded him as a "prince" to draw large crowds. At the time of exhibition, Jeoly was still grieving his mother, who Dampier also enslaved and had died at sea during their exploitation to Europe. Dampier claimed that he became friends with Jeoly, but with the intention to make money, he continued to exploit his "friend" by exhibiting him in a human zoo, where Jeoly died three months later. Jeoly's dead body was afterwards skinned, and his skinless body was disposed, while the tattooed skin was sold and displayed at Oxford.<ref>Mangubat (2017). The True Story of the Mindanaoan Slave Whose Skin Was Displayed at Oxford. Esquire.</ref>

[[File:Joshua Reynolds - Portrait of Omai.jpg|thumb|left|150px|A portrait of [[Omai]], a tattooed [[Raiatea]]n man brought back to Europe by [[James Cook|Captain James Cook]]]]

It is commonly held that the modern popularity of tattooing stems from Captain [[James Cook]]'s three voyages to the South Pacific in the late 18th century. Certainly, Cook's voyages and the dissemination of the texts and images from them brought more awareness about tattooing (and, as noted above, imported the word "tattow" into Western languages).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/captain-cook-sir-joseph-banks-and-tattoos-tahiti |title=Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks and tattoos in Tahiti |date=25 August 2015 |website=Royal Museums Greenwich |language=en |access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref> On Cook's first voyage in 1768, his science officer and expedition botanist, [[Joseph Banks|Sir Joseph Banks]], as well as artist [[Sydney Parkinson]] and many others of the crew, returned to England with a keen interest in tattoos with Banks writing about them extensively<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thedearsurprise.com/sir-joseph-banks-and-the-art-of-tattoo/ |title=Sir Joseph Banks and the Art of Tattoo |last=Knows |first=The Dear |date=6 June 2010 |website=The Dear Surprise |language=en-US |access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref> and Parkinson is believed to have gotten a tattoo himself in [[Tahiti]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/forgotten-scots-explorer-and-artist-who-sketched-for-captain-cook-expedition-hailed/ |title=The story of Scots explorer and artist Sydney Parkinson, who joined Captain Cook's expedition armed with pencils and paint |last=Gallacher |first=Stevie |website=The Sunday Post |date=6 August 2018 |language=en-US |access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref> Banks was a highly regarded member of the English aristocracy who had acquired his position with Cook by co-financing the expedition with ten thousand pounds, a very large sum at the time. In turn, Cook brought back with him a tattooed [[Raiatea]]n man, [[Omai]], whom he presented to King George and the English Court. On subsequent voyages other crew members, from officers, such as American John Ledyard, to ordinary seamen, were tattooed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tattoohistorian.com/2014/04/05/the-cook-myth-common-tattoo-history-debunked/ |title=The Cook Myth: Common Tattoo History Debunked |work=tattoohistorian.com |date=5 April 2014}}</ref>

The first documented professional tattooist in Britain was [[Sutherland Macdonald]], who operated out of a salon in London beginning in 1894.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/sutherland-macdonald-britains-first-professional-tattoo-artist-celebrated-in-new-exhibition-at-the-a6804396.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/sutherland-macdonald-britains-first-professional-tattoo-artist-celebrated-in-new-exhibition-at-the-a6804396.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=The man who started the tattoo craze in Britain is coming to a museum near you |work=The Independent |access-date=20 July 2018 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In Britain, tattooing was still largely associated with sailors<ref>Some days after a shipwreck divers recovered the bodies. Most were unrecognisable, but that of a crew member was readily identified by his tattoos: "The reason why sailors tattoo themselves has often been asked." The Times (London), 30 January 1873, p. 10</ref> and the lower or even criminal class,<ref>''The Times'' (London), 3 April 1879, p. 9: "Crime has a ragged regiment in its pay so far as the outward ... qualities are concerned ... they tattoo themselves indelibly ... asserting the man's identity with the aid of needles and gunpowder. This may be the explanation of the Mermaids, the Cupid's arrows, the name of MARY, the tragic inscription to the memory of parents, the unintended pathos of the appeal to liberty."</ref> but by the 1870s had become fashionable among some members of the upper classes, including royalty,<ref name="Abington 2010" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Broadwell |first=Albert H. |title=Sporting pictures on the human skin |journal=Country Life |date=27 January 1900}} Article describing work of society tattooist [http://www.tattooarchive.com/tattoo_history/macdonald_sutherland.html Sutherland Macdonald] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103145504/http://www.tattooarchive.com/tattoo_history/macdonald_sutherland.html |date=3 November 2013 }} refers to his clientele including "members of our Royal Family, among them H.R.H. the Duke of York, H.I.M. the Czarevitch, and Imperial and Royal members of Russian, German and Spanish courts...."</ref> and in its upmarket form it could be an expensive<ref>''The Times'' (London), 18 April 1889, p. 12: "A Japanese Professional Tattooer". Article describes the activities of an unnamed Japanese tattooist based in Hong Kong. He charged £4 for a dragon, which would take 5 hours to do. The article ends "The Hong-Kong operator tattooed the arm of an English Prince, and, in Kioto, was engaged for a whole month reproducing on the trunk and limbs of an English peer a series of scenes from Japanese history. For this he was paid about £100. He has also tattooed ladies.... His income from tattooing in Hong Kong is about £1,200 per annum."</ref> and sometimes painful<ref>{{cite journal |last=Broadwell |first=Albert H. |title=Sporting pictures on the human skin |journal=Country Life |date=27 January 1900}} "In especially sensitive cases a mild solution of cocaine is injected under the skin, ... and no sensation whatever is felt, while the soothing solution is so mild that it has no effect ... except locally."</ref> process. A marked [[class division]] on the acceptability of the practice continued for some time in Britain.<ref>In 1969 the House of Lords debated a bill to ban the tattooing of minors, on grounds it had become "trendy" with the young in recent years but was associated with crime, 40 per cent of young criminals having tattoos. [[Baron Teynham|Lord Teynham]] and the [[Dudley Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair|Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair]] however rose to object that they had been tattooed as youngsters, with no ill effects. ''The Times'' (London), 29 April 1969, p. 4: "Saving young from embarrassing tattoos".</ref>

=== North America ===
Many [[Indigenous people of North America|Indigenous peoples of North America]] practice tattooing.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Root |first=Leeanne |date=13 September 2018 |title=How Native American Tattoos Influenced the Body Art Industry |url=https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/native-american-tattoos-influenced-body-art-industry |access-date=12 June 2022 |newspaper=Ict News |language=en}}</ref> European explorers and traders who met Native Americans noticed these tattoos and wrote about them, and a few Europeans chose to be tattooed by Native Americans.<ref name="Friedman2012">{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Friedman Herlihy |first=Anna Felicity |title=Tattooed Transculturites: Western Expatriates among Amerindian and Pacific Islander Societies, 1500–1900 |date=June 2012 |publisher=University of Chicago |location=Chicago, IL |url=https://tattoohistorian.com/2017/01/07/tattooed-transculturites-read-my-phd-tattoo-history-dissertation-online/}}</ref> See [[History of tattooing#North America|history of tattooing in North America]].

By the time of the [[American Revolution]], tattoos were already common among American sailors (see [[sailor tattoos]]).<ref name="Dye">{{Cite journal |last=Dye |first=Ira |date=1989 |title=The Tattoos of Early American Seafarers, 1796–1818 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/986875 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=133 |issue=4 |pages=520–554 |jstor=986875 |issn=0003-049X}}</ref> Tattoos were listed in [[protection papers]], an identity certificate issued to prevent [[impressment]] into the British [[Royal Navy]].<ref name="Dye" /> Because protection papers were proof of American citizenship, Black sailors used them to show that they were freemen.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fDsHKydL67kC&q=%22protection%20papers%22%20slavery&pg=PA305 Law in American History: Volume 1: From the Colonial Years Through the Civil War.] Page 305.</ref>

[[File:Tattooed sailor aboard the USS New Jersey.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Sailor tattoos|Sailor being tattooed]] by a fellow sailor aboard [[USS New Jersey (BB-62)|USS ''New Jersey'']] in 1944]]
The first recorded professional tattoo shop in the U.S. was established in the early 1870s by a German immigrant, [[Martin Hildebrandt]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nyssen |first=Carmen |title=New York City's 1800s Tattoo Shops |url=https://buzzworthytattoo.com/saloon-tattoo-shops-of-new-york-citys-4th-ward/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907022552/http://www.buzzworthytattoo.com/saloon-tattoo-shops-of-new-york-citys-4th-ward/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=7 September 2017 |access-date=6 June 2022 |website=Buzzworthy Tattoo History |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Amer |first1=Aïda |last2=Laskow |first2=Sarah |date=13 August 2018 |title=Tattooing in the Civil War Was a Hedge Against Anonymous Death |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/civil-war-tattoos |access-date=5 June 2022 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}}</ref> He had served as a Union soldier in the Civil War and tattooed many other soldiers.<ref name=":0" />

Soon after the Civil War, tattoos became fashionable among upper-class young adults.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Namra |first=Inbar |title=Victorian Tattoos – Yes, They Were a Thing|url=https://greatest.ink/blog/victorian-tattoos-yes-they-were-a-thing/ |access-date=5 May 2023 |website=Greatest Ink |date=5 May 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref> This trend lasted until the beginning of World War I. The invention of the electric tattoo machine caused popularity of tattoos among the wealthy to drop off. The machine made the tattooing procedure both much easier and cheaper, thus, eliminating the status symbol tattoos previously held, as they were now affordable for all socioeconomic classes. The status symbol of a tattoo shifted from a representation of wealth to a mark typically seen on rebels and criminals. Despite this change, tattoos remained popular among military servicemen, a tradition that continues today.

In 1975, there were only 40 tattoo artists in the U.S.; in 1980, there were more than 5,000 self-proclaimed tattoo artists,<ref name="Think before you ink: Tattoo risks">{{Cite web |title=Think before you ink: Tattoo risks |url=https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/tattoos-and-piercings/art-20045067 |access-date=26 April 2022 |website=Mayo Clinic |language=en}}</ref> appearing in response to sudden demand.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1980/11/09/original-tattoo-artist-times-changing/99616353-ba75-477d-822c-4aeaf062d17a/ |title=Original Tattoo Artist: Times Changing |date=9 November 1980 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=5 March 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

Many studies have been done of the tattooed population and society's view of tattoos. In June 2006, the ''[[American Academy of Dermatology|Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology]]'' published the results of a telephone survey of 2004: it found that 36% of Americans ages 18–29, 24% of those 30–40, and 15% of those 41–51 had a tattoo.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kirby |first1=David |title=Inked Well |date=2012 |publisher=Bedford/St. Martins |location=Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide |isbn=978-0-312-67684-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/patternsforcolle0000unse/page/685 685–689] |url=https://archive.org/details/patternsforcolle0000unse/page/685}}</ref> In September 2006, the [[Pew Research Center]] conducted a telephone survey that found that 36% of Americans ages 18–25, 40% of those 26–40 and 10% of those 41–64 had a tattoo. They concluded that [[Generation X]] and [[Millennials]] express themselves through their appearance, and tattoos are a popular form of self-expression.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://people-press.org/report/300/a-portrait-of-generation-next |publisher=[[Pew Research Center|The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press]] |title=A Portrait of 'Generation Next' |date=9 January 2007 |access-date=5 April 2012}}</ref> In January 2008, a survey conducted online by [[Harris Insights & Analytics|Harris Interactive]] estimated that 14% of all adults in the United States have a tattoo, slightly down from 2003, when 16% had a tattoo. Among age groups, 9% of those ages 18–24, 32% of those 25–29, 25% of those 30–39 and 12% of those 40–49 have tattoos, as do 8% of those 50–64. Men are slightly more likely to have a tattoo than women.

Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of Western fashion, common both for men and women, and among all economic classes<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/history-ink/wQx72HUG |title=History, Ink – The Valentine |website=Google Arts & Culture |language=en |access-date=20 April 2020}}</ref> and to age groups from the later teen years to middle age. For many young Americans, the tattoo has taken on a decidedly different meaning than for previous generations. The tattoo has undergone "dramatic redefinition" and has shifted from a form of deviance to an acceptable form of expression.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Roberts |first=D. J. |title=Secret Ink: Tattoo's Place in Contemporary American Culture |journal=Journal of American Culture |volume=35 |number=2 |year=2012 |pages=153–65 |doi=10.1111/j.1542-734x.2012.00804.x |pmid=22737733}}</ref> As of 1 November 2006, [[Oklahoma]] became the last state to legalize tattooing, having banned it since 1963.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-05-11-0605110139-story.html |title=State last to legalize tattoo artists, parlors |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=11 May 2006 |access-date=6 June 2019}}</ref>

=== Australia ===
Scarring was practised widely amongst the Indigenous peoples of Australia, now only really found in parts of [[Arnhem Land]]. Each "deliberately placed scar tells a story of pain, endurance, identity, status, beauty, courage, sorrow or grief."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Aboriginal Scarification |url=https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/aboriginal-scarification/ |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=The Australian Museum |language=en}}</ref><blockquote>''Barramoyokjarlukkugarr walang bolhminy now bolitj.'' They put it on the wound and then it comes up as an adornment scar. ([[Bob Burruwal]], [[Rembarrnga]], Arnhem Land)<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

The European history of the use of tattoo in Australia is that branding was used by European authorities for marking criminals throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.<ref>Clare Andersen in Caplan, J. (2000). Written on the body: The tattoo in European and American history / edited by Jane Caplan. London: Reaktion. {{ISBN|1-86189-062-1}}</ref> The practice was also used by British authorities to mark army deserters and military personnel court-martialed in Australia. In nineteenth century Australia tattoos were generally the result of personal rather than official decisions but British authorities started to record tattoos along with scars and other bodily markings to describe and manage convicts assigned for transportation.<ref name="auto">Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, in Caplan, J. (2000). Written on the body: The tattoo in European and American history / edited by Jane Caplan. London: Reaktion. {{ISBN|1-86189-062-1}}</ref> The practice of tattooing appears to have been a largely non-commercial enterprise during the convict period in Australia. For example, James Ross in the Hobart Almanac of 1833 describes how the convicts on board ship commonly spent time tattooing themselves with gunpowder.<ref name="auto" /> Out of a study of 10,180 convict records that were transported to then Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) between 1823 and 1853 about 37% of all men and about 15% of all women arrived with tattoos, making Australia at the time the most heavily tattooed English-speaking country.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-30/convict-tattoos-tasmanias-inked-history-explored-in-book/7798044 |title=Tattoo trend goes back to Tasmania's convict era, author finds |newspaper=ABC News |date=30 August 2016}}</ref>[[File:Fred Harris Tattoo Studio slnsw.jpg|thumb|upright|Fred Harris, Tattoo Studio, Sydney, 1937]]By the beginning of the twentieth century, there were tattoo studios in Australia but they do not appear to have been numerous. For example, the Sydney tattoo studio of Fred Harris was touted as being the only tattoo studio in Sydney between 1916 and 1943.<ref>PIX MAgazine, Vol. 1 No. 4 (19 February 1938)</ref> Tattoo designs often reflected the culture of the day and in 1923 Harris's small parlour experienced an increase in the number of women getting tattoos. Another popular trend was for women to have their legs tattooed so the designs could be seen through their stockings.<ref>SYDNEY WOMEN'S CRAZE. (6 October 1923). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860–1947), p. 11</ref>
 
By 1937 Harris was one of Sydney's best-known tattoo artists and was inking around 2000 tattoos a year in his shop. Sailors provided most of the canvases for his work but among the more popular tattoos in 1938 were Australian flags and kangaroos for sailors of the visiting American Fleet.<ref>Fred Harris Tattoo Studio Sydney, 1916–1943, State Library of New South Wales</ref>

In modern-day Australia, tattoos are common and widely accepted.<ref name="inkedmag-aus">{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=Simon |date=2024-11-19 |title=Tattoos Down Under |url=https://inkedmag.com/art/tattoos-down-under |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=[[Inked (magazine)|Inked Magazine]] |language=en-US}}</ref> A 2024 study determined that there were 1,860 tattoo businesses in Australia.<ref name="inkedmag-aus"/> There are [[tattoo convention]]s held in major cities each year.<ref name="inkedmag-aus"/> The [[Flags depicting the Southern Cross|Southern Cross motif from the Australian flag]] is a popular but controversial tattoo.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stokes |first=Alan |date=2014-10-13 |title=The taboo tattoo: is there a national symbol to challenge the Southern Cross? |url=https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-taboo-tattoo-is-there-a-national-symbol-to-challenge-the-southern-cross-20141014-115lqf.html |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=VICE |date=2020-09-02 |title=We Asked People With Southern Cross Tattoos 'Why?' |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/we-asked-people-with-southern-cross-tattoos-why/ |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Latin America ===
Of the three best-known Pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, the Mayas and the Aztecs of Central America were known to wear tattoos while the Incas of South America were not.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pre-Columbian Tattoos of Western South America |date=6 July 2020 |url=https://www.larskrutak.com/pre-columbian-tattoos-of-western-south-america/}}</ref> However, there is evidence that the [[Chimor|Chimu]] people who preceded the Incas did wear tattoos for magic and medical purposes.<ref name=Chimu/> The [[Chancay culture]] of coastal Peru had tattoos around 1250 A.D. which were studied with [[laser]]s by researchers at the [[Chinese University of Hong Kong]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/lasers-help-archaeologists-study-ancient-tattoos-on-peruvian-mummies/ar-BB1rnVYJ|title=Lasers help archaeologists study ancient tattoos on Peruvian mummies|last=Larson|first=Christina|work=[[MSN]]|via=[[Associated Press]]|date=January 14, 2025|access-date=January 31, 2025}}</ref> The diverse tribes of the Amazon have also worn tattoos for millennia and continue to do so to this day, including facial tattoos and notably, the people of the [[Xingu River]] in the [[North Region, Brazil|North]] of Brazil and the [[Putumayo River]] between Peru, Brazil, and Colombia<ref name=Chimu>{{Cite web |title=The Kayabi: Tattooers of the Brazilian Amazon |date=25 May 2013 |url=https://www.larskrutak.com/the-kayabi-tattooers-of-the-brazilian-amazon/}}</ref>

=== New Zealand ===
[[File:MaoriChief1784.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Māori people|Māori]] chief with tattoos (''[[Tā moko|moko]]'') seen by Cook and his crew (drawn by [[Sydney Parkinson]] 1769), engraved for ''[[A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas]]'' by Thomas Chambers]]
The [[Māori people]] of New Zealand have historically practiced tattooing. Amongst these are facial designs worn to indicate lineage, social position, and status within the ''[[iwi]]'' (tribe) called ''[[tā moko]]''. The tattoo art was a sacred marker of identity among the Māori and also referred to as a vehicle for storing one's ''[[Tapu (Polynesian culture)|tapu]]'', or spiritual being, in the afterlife.<ref name="google1">{{Cite book |last=Atkinson |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BUxKHJAUSxgC&q=atkinson+tattooed&pg=PR3 |title=Tattooed: the sociogenesis of a body art |year=2003 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-8568-9 |access-date=5 April 2012}}</ref> One practice was after death to preserve the skin-covered skull known as ''Toi moko'' or ''[[mokomokai]]''. In the period of early contact between Māori and Europeans these heads were traded especially for firearms. Many of these are now being repatriated back to New Zealand led by the country's national museum, [[Te Papa]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Toi moko « Trafficking Culture |url=https://traffickingculture.org/encyclopedia/case-studies/toimoko/,%20https://traffickingculture.org/encyclopedia/case-studies/toimoko/ |access-date=2023-05-21 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Strange Trade — Deals in Maori Heads — Pioneer Artists |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-RobMoko-t1-front-d2.html |website=victoria.ac.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first1=Marc |last1=Fennell |first2=Monique |last2=Ross |date=2020-12-13 |title=The headhunters |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-14/mokomokai-maori-heads-stuff-the-british-stole-repatriations/12771180 |access-date=2023-05-21}}</ref>

=== India ===
Tattooing in India has a long history, practiced by various tribes and communities. The art of tattooing was traditionally linked to cultural, social, and spiritual beliefs. In the northeastern states, such as Assam and Nagaland, tribal tattoos were symbolic of protection, rites of passage, and spiritual identity. The [[Gondi people|Gond people]] of central India and [[Warli]] tribe of Maharashtra also practiced tattooing, which represented their cultural heritage and connection to nature.

In [[Rajasthan]], tattoos were often considered to protect the wearer from evil spirits and bring good fortune. Among the [[Mising people|Mishing]] people of Assam, tattoos were seen as indicators of maturity and social standing. The tradition of tattooing evolved over time from a ritualistic and protective art form to an expression of personal identity and individuality.

[[Bind (caste)|Binds]] in [[Uttar Pradesh]] have used tattoos to signify the [[marital status]] of a woman, especially in remote rural areas. In the past, girls would get tattooed as soon as they started [[Menstrual cycle|menstruating]], which signaled to the family that it was time to begin searching for a [[Bridegroom|groom]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saika |first=Neha |date=July 19, 2023 |title=Tattooing as a gendered practice: Why only Bind women get inked |url=https://idronline.org/ground-up-stories/tattooing-as-a-gendered-practice-why-only-bind-women-get-inked/ |access-date=May 14, 2025 |website=India Development Review (IDR)}}</ref>

In contemporary India, tattooing has become mainstream, particularly in urban areas, with many tattoo artists gaining international recognition. Tattoos are now a popular means of expressing personal stories, beliefs, and artistic style.<ref name="tattoo_history1">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Dristi |year=2021 |title=A link through the ink |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/interactive/immersive/contemporary-tattoo-culture-know-history-tattoo-types-and-other-details/ |access-date=2021-12-23 |website=India Today }}</ref>