Therapeutic tattooing in the Arctic: Ethnographic, archaeological, and ontological frameworks of analysis.

This essay describes the potential for using ethnographic evidence and mummified tattooed skin to reflect on past therapeutic tattoo practice in the Arctic. It also considers the ways in which circumpolar concepts of disease emerged in relation to the agency of nonhuman entities. I argue that specific forms of curative tattooing offer interpretive models for the paleopathological and bioarchaeological study of care through an ontological framework of analysis.

Possible evidence for care and treatment in the Tyrolean Iceman.

The Tyrolean Iceman is the world's oldest glacier mummy. He was found in September 1991 in the Italian part of the Ötztal Alps. Since his discovery a variety of morphological, radiological and molecular analyses have been performed that revealed detailed insights into his state of health. Despite the various pathological conditions found in the Iceman, little is known about possible forms of care and treatment during the Copper Age in Northern Italy. A possible approach to this topic is the presence of tattoos on the mummified body. In previous work, it was already believed that the tattoos were administered as a kind of treatment for his lower back pain and degenerative joint disease of his knees, hip and wrist. In other studies, the tattoos of the Iceman have been related to an early form of acupuncture. We carefully re-evaluated the various health issues of the Iceman, including joint diseases, gastrointestinal problems and arterial calcifications and compared them to the location and number of tattoos. Together with the finding of medically effective fungi and plants, such as the birch polypore or fern in his equipment and intestines, we suggest that care and treatment was already common during the Iceman's time.

The cultural heritage of tattooing: a brief history.

For millennia, peoples around the world have tattooed human skin to communicate various ontological, psychosocial, and sociocultural concepts encompassing beauty, cultural identity, status and position, medicine, and supernatural protection. As a system of knowledge transmission, tattooing has been and continues to be a visual language of the skin whereby culture is inscribed, experienced, and preserved in a myriad of specific ways. If we are to fully comprehend the meanings that tattoos have carried across human history and into the present, then it would be useful to explore some of the ways tattoos, as instruments that transmit culture, have been deployed cross-culturally through time.

["My body belongs to me"--cultural history and psychology of piercings and tattoos]. / "Mein Körper gehört mir" - Kulturgeschichte und Psychologie des Piercing und Tattoo.

At present tattoos and piercings can no longer be regarded as destructive acts of self mutilation practized by fringe groups. Body modifications (BMs) are found in virtually all preindustrial cultures and have their roots in ancient myths and magical rituals. The prevalence of tattoos and piercings in the German population is 8.5% and 6.8%, respectively. Unemployed young men and young women who do not live in a firm partnership show particularly high prevalences. The incidence of BMs correlates positively with the personality trait "sensation seeking", particularly in young women. BMs often serve to express individuality and identity, and they also reflect changed attitude towards the human body and body art as well as following fashion trends. However, BMs can also provide valuable diagnostic indications for identity search and risk taking behaviour.

Tattoos and tattooing. Part I: History and methodology.

Most medical examiners and pathologists who routinely perform autopsies identify tattoos on a daily basis. However, these dermagraphics generally are given only cursory inspection and description, if at all, although many pathologists photograph particularly unique, unusual, or bizarre examples. From a medicolegal perspective, these permanent skin designs are most often used as identification markers, especially in cases of unknown or questionable identity. The majority of pathologists and other physicians are not familiar with the way in which tattoos are applied, much less the history of this unusual art or the various aspects of tattoos that may provide even more complete information as to how, where, why, and when the tattoos were done. This article, the first of three parts, provides a brief but comprehensive history of tattooing from both the worldwide and Western perspectives, describes how professional tattooing is done, and illustrates the machines involved and the various constituents of the inks that are currently used. The second and third articles will explore the gross and histopathology of tattoos, methods of tattoo removal, medical applications and complications associated with tattoos, psychology and psychopathology of tattoos, and the importance of tattoos in forensic medicine.

[Ancient tattooing from today's point of view]. / Antike Tätowierungen aus heutiger Sicht.

Both literary and arachaeological evidence indicates that, up to now, ancient tattoos can be traced with certainty in painting only among Thracians. A comparison with modern tattoos reveals differences of motivation and motifs, whereas localization, technique, and removal show similarities. The illustrations demonstrate some tattoos typical for Thracians on Greek vases.