History of tattoos and piercings

Tattoos and Body Piercings

In the year 1066, and England was involved in the Battle of Hastings; at that time, nobody knew that England would be ruled by a new King. “Harold II of England is dead, long life to the new king, William I of England”, was heard.
After the battle, the body of Harold was recognized only for a very strange characteristic at that times, a mark in his body; this markwas located over his heart, and nobody knows where and under what circumstances he received this mark on his skin.
The mark that helped recognize his body was a tattoo, which by definition, is the act of modifying the skin creating a drawing, figure or text in ink or other pigment, the piercing (which is other act of body art) is the act of placing a slope in the body, following the opening of theskin.
From different facts and documents people will be able to see how tattoos and piercings have represent cultures, because they have been used by them trough the time in different ways.

History of Tattoos and Piercings

Establishing the precise moment that the tattoo and piercing appeared in the history of humankind is to be a very complicated task, but for a variety of reasons, these areregarded as a venerable and ancient art, which in recent decades appears to have emerged in exceptional force. Tattooing and piercing practices are ancestral expressions, which have existed in many civilizations. Egyptians are an example, they practiced of the art of tattooing and body piercing since 3000 years ago. As evidence of this, mummies have been found with several lines and dots tattooedalong their bodies as well as a navel ring. But the most striking evidence of antiquity was founded in 1991 in a glacier on the border between Austria and Italy; there appeared frozen a 5300 years old Neolithic hunter (knowing as Oetzi), with the back and knees tattooed. Reference Page Citation
Discovery News (2009). Oetzi Iceman’s tattoos come from fireplace. Retrieved
August 21, 2009, from:http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/17/iceman-tattoos.html

By the findings, we may conclude that these practices were carried out exclusively in the nobility and warriors of the highest-ranking of these cultures and the main function was to denote hierarchy and distinction. Other cultures that followed this practice include: Egypt, India, Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Aztecs, and Incas, among others.Imperial Times

As the time elapse, the practice of these arts continued; around 322 BC, Rome controls parts of Europe and Africa, included Egypt , were imperial times and after this many Egyptian customs were adopted by the Romans; the Centurions, members of the guard of the Cesar, begin to wear rings on their nipples as a sign of virility and courage as well as an accessory to their clothing asthey could hang them in the short layers used; tattooing was also used by soldiers as a sign of membership and activity in the imperial army. The piercing was also quite common among girls of high society in the Victorian era; the role was to enhance the size of their nipples. Reference Page Citation
Tribal Body Art (2009). Piercing History. Retrieved
August 08, 2009, from:http://www.tribalbodyart.com/phistory.html

Rome started the construction of roads for transportation and commerce, thanks to this, around 100 BC, tattooing gained entry through the trade routes to India, China and Japan. Despite a glorious start in Japan, tattooing was reserved for those who had committed serious crimes, and individuals tattooed were isolated by their families, this was one of the worst punishments.The emperor Mutsuhito, before the opening of Japan to the West, decided to ban tattoos to avoid giving the impression of savagery to foreigners.

While this was happening in the East (around 297 AD), in Rome, tattooing was disappearing due to the defeats of the army against empires such as the Teutonic, Turkish and others, this had resulted in the defection of many soldiers; wherever they found...