Tattooing is a very ancient art form. ‘Otzi the Iceman’ had 61 tattoos, he was a Bronze Age man from around 3300 BCE and was found in a glacier of the Otztal Alps in 1991, near the border between Austrian and Italy. His tattoos were located on or near acupuncture points that would have been used to treat diseases and ailments. The tattoos were made using charcoal, but it’s not known for sure how they were made, more than likely cuts were made and the charcoal was then rubbed into the wounds.
It would seem that these very early tattoos were there for medicinal and healing purposes, but what about for decoration?
In 1993, on the Ukok plateau near the Russia-China border, Russian archaeologists discovered the mummified body of a 25 year old woman, known as the Siberian Ice Maiden She was one of the Pazyryk nomadic people and roamed the steppes more than 2500 years ago. Her body was incredibly well preserved, along with her mythological animal tattoos.
These tattoos signified age and status, but were also decorative and told stories. My particular favourite is the deer with a griffon’s beak which she had on her left shoulder, I’ve always really liked it so I created a little homage to this most ancient of art forms. While I was working on it, I started to think about the person who created this tattoo all those years ago; what did they look like? How did they prepare for the tattoo? Was there a ritual? What were their inspirations? How did they tattoo the skin and what materials did they use?
I love the fact that thousands of years later, modern day tattooists like me are still inspired and recreating the designs of the past, how cool is that!
