Tattoos have been a part of human culture and expression for quite a lot longer than you might have thought. The earliest known tattoo art goes back over 5,000 years, and was found on the famous mummified Ice Man discovered in 1991. Before the Ice Man was discovered, however, it was well-known that tattooing was a popular practice in other ancient cultures-- and especially ancient Egypt.
Evidence that tattoo art were worn in ancient Egypt comes from figurines, tomb scenes, and mummified bodies. Interestingly enough, all of these tattoos were found on women or depictions of women; they simply weren’t used for men. Because of this, there was once a lot of doubt among archeologists (who were, of course, mostly male) about the validity of the tattoo as a true Egyptian cultural practice. Since all tattoos were found on women, it was assumed that they simply marked dancing girls or run-of-the-mill prostitutes… and they weren’t particularly important.
But as time passed and tattoo art and their owners were examined more carefully, it became clear that, though tattooing was restricted to ancient Egyptian women, it wasn’t restricted to women of poor or unimportant status. Many of the tattoo-bearing female mummies discovered by archeologists were found in buried in Deir el-Bahari, a burial area intended for high-status members of Egyptian society. This was not where simple, low-status prostitutes were buried. In fact, it was later discovered that one of the tattoo-bearing mummies buried here was a high priestess… and definitely not a woman of little importance.
And so the purpose of tattoo art in Egyptian culture was re-examined. Why were so many Egyptian women marked with them, and what did they mean? The answer to this lies in the tattoos themselves. The tattoos of Ancient Egyptian women were located almost exclusively over the breasts, stomach, and upper thigh. The tattoo design, rather than the flowers or beasts seen in later cultures, was generally a net-like pattern of dots across the skin, similar to the bead nets placed across mummies after being wrapped.
In essence, tattoo art in ancient Egypt was used for protection rather than decoration; in particular for protection during pregnancy and birth. During a pregnancy, the net-like pattern of the tattoo would expand across the stomach protectively, and figures of Bes, the ancient Egyptian god who protected women during childbirth, were tattooed on their thighs. All of this was meant to keep children healthy in the womb and protect both mother and child during pregnancy and childbirth.
To learn more about the history of tattoo art, including ancient tattooing tools and methods, visit the Smithsonian Magazine website at: http://www.smithsonianmag.com
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