Marked for Life: Exploring the History of Tattooing

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Recommended: Evolution of human beings

Modern humans have been around for 200,00(0) years and throughout their brief existence they have had the advantage of intelligence over every other creature in history. They have had the opportunity to travel through space, explore the depths of the ocean, and experience every landscape imaginable; however, humans as a species are shrouded in mystery. They have had different cultures and customs spread across the globe, and in many ways it is difficult to know what life is like in cultures apart from their own, for they do not share the same lifestyle or upbringing. There are some things that are universal as far as human cultures go: smiling to show joy, crying to show pain, loving those whom they are close to, and...tattoos. Whether they are loved or hated, humans have been branding themselves with tattoos for a variety of reasons for thousands of years – tattoos are becoming more popular and accepted all the time. The perception of tattoos and those wearing them has varied in societies since tattoos first started being used. Some of the reasons people had/have tattoos include: therapy, protection, homage, memory, religion, or a dumb mistake. In historic cases, tattoos were used as a way to communicate with others, and were a common occurrence in most societies throughout history. Schildkrout states “There is no culture in which people do not, or did not paint, pierce, tattoo, reshape, or simply adorn their bodies (Schildkrout).”Since modern technology has made tattoos relatively affordable, faster and slightly less painful to receive, tattooing has shifted from select groups to “everyone else”. There are no specific groups for tattoos anymore, they are seen everywhere on all types of people and are less discriminated agains... ... middle of paper ... ...earch Premier. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. 0 "Greek and Roman Tattoos." vanishingtattoo. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. . "Introduction of Polynesian Tattoo History." ApolynesianTattoo. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. . "Native American Tattoos." Native American tattoos. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. . "The Civil War Parlor." - Tattoos and the Civil War Tattoos and the name.... N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. . "1940′s US Servicemen and Tattoos – WWII Ink." The 1940s 19401949 Fashion History Movies Music. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. .

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