Tattoo Ideas

Cross Tattoos
Butterfly Tattoos
Skull Tattoos
Angel Tattoos

The practice of tattooing most likely began with tribal shoulder tattoo. It has been practiced since the Neolithic Age in Eurasia. The oldest human species ever discovered is Otzi the Iceman who is considered to have lived around 3,300 BC in the alpine region of what is at present the boundary between Austria and Italy. Upon closer inspection, it was found that the corpse of Otzi has up to 57 tattoos, a lot of them plain dots and lines.

Otzi’s tattoo-filled ancient corpse is not a unique case, in fact. Several others, specifically mummies, have been found with tattoos that date back to the second millennium BC. Samples of these are the mummies from the burial grounds at Pazyryk on the Ukok Plateau and the Mummy of Amunet from Ancient Egypt. Scholars link the tattoos found on the Mummy of Amunet to the sacred religion surrounding Amunet. Tattoos on Otzi and the Pazyryk mummies exemplify ancient tribal shoulder tattoos and markings.

Tribal tattoos were engaged in for diverse reasons but the familiar thread that ran through them all was their use as a form of identification. The distinctive tattoo used by each tribe set it apart from other tribes, thus identifying its members and also allowing its members to distinguish members of other tribes.

The tattoos often also showed what someone’s position was in a tribe. A community would have a tribal chief, a shaman and warriors, for instance. Tattoo styles for warriors and shamans, following tribal customs and traditions, varied a great deal. Chieftains were generally found to have more ornately ornamented tattoos.

Tattoos also often are indicators of a person’s importance to his tribe, sometimes even relating a big event in his life when he displayed powers as warrior or chieftain. Tribal tattoos were customarily displayed on the shoulder to be in plain sight for all.

Tribal shoulder tattoos were not merely for recognition but served to scare and intimidate enemies, too. Early pre-Christian Celtic and Germanic tribes that inhabited northern and central Europe were said to be heavily tattooed.

Also well-known for their scars and tattoos were the Picts, a fusion of tribes living in ancient Scotland. Intricate dark blue and copper etchings decorated their bodies, turning the skin blue. These tattoos and their blue prints caught Julius Caesar’s eyes, earning it a place in the fifth book of his Gallic Wars series.

Contemporary tribal shoulder tattoos trace their roots to primitive beliefs and practices. People in our time wear tattooes, not necessarily for any deep reason, but for their strikingly elaborate designs. The fashion now in tribal shoulder tattoo is Celtic knot work — a replica of the art, culture and might of the ancient Celtic tribes that once inhabited Western Europe before its conquest by the Roman Empire. The Romans thereafter sealed their conquest by prohibiting body markings and tattoos that distinguished the tribes from the rest of the Empire.