The evolution of tattoos

The art of tattooing could only secede from the subculture of sailors and prisoners in the last decades. The scientific approach of tattoos is considered a brand new research area indeed. The book of Akos Kovacs and Erzsébet Sztres: The world of russian thieves and their art. published in 1994 Budapest, is an excellent example. What do we know about the evolution of tattoos? Not too much indeed. The earlist archeological evidence was Ötzi the Iceman found in Austria. Ötzi had approximately 57 carbon tattoos on his 5000 year old body. The art of tattoo probably derives from the imitation of the respectful wounds and scars of the Neanderthal man gained during hunt. If you follow the logic of transmission magic you can say when successful hunt is accompanied by wounds than bruising yourself causes a successful hunt. After a certain period of time it could have become basic requirements and probably part of the young people’s initiation ritual for becoming adult. Personally I also consider the ritual of blood contract as a special type of tattooing. We can state that the „art of bruising” is earlier than any other creation or fine art. I wonder when people realized that by putting ash and smut into the wound the ink would have become permanent as soon as it had healed. I guess the makers of cave painting could have possessed the knowledge.