Tattoos

“ “It’s a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.” This quote was said by Jimmy Buffet. A tattoo will stick with you for your whole lifetime, but for some people that’s exactly what they want. A permanent reminder of something always right there with them. The iceman that was found gave us a lot of information on tattoos. Also how tattoos can show different meanings for different types of people. Maybe it’s a memorial form of art for someone that was very close to you someone you look up to, or even just something that was catchy to the eye. The popularity of tattoos have increased greatly threw out the years. Depending on what culture or age you are, the reasons and meanings for having a tattoo will vary for everyone.

We all know that tattoos have been around for several hundreds of years, but we didn’t know how long till we discovered the iceman. He was found well under several layers of ice in the Italian Alps in October of 1991. This man was clamed to be a hunter of a tribe that dated back to the Bronze Age.  He was the oldest mummy ever found with tattoos, that’s over 5000 years ago! Around this time its thought that only about 1% of the earths population had tattoos. The iceman had 58 tattoos located over several parts of his body; some scientists believe that these tattoos may indicate an early type of acupuncture that would treat symptoms of diseases that he might have had.  For example his autopsy showed that he had some form of parasite that was eating his stomach, and they found several tattoo markings on his lower back approximately by the stomach. Over 5000 years ago some people where using tattoos as a form of treatment, here are some other ways people used tattooing in their lives.

Sailors and prisoners are just a few examples of where we see tattoos today. Sailors would get an anchor tattooed on them to symbolize that they had sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. Some people believe that tattoos can help promote someone to do something they wouldn’t be able to do if they didn’t have that tattoo, for example. Having a pig on one foot and a rooster on the other. The meaning behind these tattoos where that they where both barn animals that can’t swim so they will help the seamen quickly to shore if there ship had sank.  A prisoners’ tattoo was somewhat like those of a sailors they represented something to them. Prison tattoos could be used to display a gang they are in, their convictions, or even their skills. For example one of the most common of these tattoos is the teardrop located next to the eye. The teardrop tattoo symbolizes that the prisoner has either killed someone, or has had a friend who got killed in prison. Also the numbers 13 and 14 indicate membership of a gang, the list goes on. Prisoners also use tattoos as a way to look tough, especially if their tattoos where done in prison, then they where probably created with make shift machines with anything they could find around the prison, such as the motors from electric shavers, and guitar string for the needles.  Even though sailors and prisoners are all different their reasons and meanings behind their tattoos all have a story.

Over the years’ tattoos have became more and more popular amongst the whole world. Many people these days get tattoos just for the fact that they love art. It doesn’t have to show meaning or display something to people other than maybe interests, but we will still stick to those old traditions of using tattoos to display meaning.

Tattoos have dated back to 5000 years ago. Even though it has been years tattoos have had very little change in how they are defined. Who knows how long this trend will go on for! My guess is a long time; even though having a love for tattoos might not apply to everyone it applies to a large amount of people.  “It’s a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.” As stated by Jimmy Buffet.  So think before you ink.