Stretched Ears Research Paper

The History of Stretched Ears

Have you ever wondered about how long something has been around for? Well surprisingly stretched ears have been around for 5,210 years.

The first known person to have stretched ears is Otzi the ice man, a frozen mummy all the way from 3300 bce found between Austria and Italy. He is the earliest known example of body modification. The mummy ice man was found in September 19, 1991 by german tourists on the Australian-Italian border. The oldest known human mummy in this world has several tattoos. His tattoos are located around his back, ankles and knees, as well as ear lobes stretched to around 0 gauge (around 8mm).

Another known person is King Tut the Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. King Tut's

mask and mummy shows that he had stretched ears. Among other items in the pyramid he was found in, there were eyelet type pieces of jewelry that archaeologists believe were used as plugs or earrings.

The Maasai tribe from Kenya are known for the intricate colorful clothing and their distinctive colorful clothing. They are also known for the jewelry and material they wear in their piercings, most are the woman in the tribe. To do the piercing and stretch their ears they take a sharp object such as a knife or twig, they then held open the piercing and put jewelry made from animal bone, elephant tusk, or a stone of some sort. They then wear heavy jewelry in the piercing in order to stretch and increase the size. The Maasai tribe identified widely stretched ear lobes with wisdom since the older members of the tribe had larger lobes from having their ears weighed down over years. The Maasai have been around since the fifteenth century and still live till this day.

Today some tribes such as The Maasai have begun to abandon their traditions and give up there old valued customs, luckily some of these customs have caught on to the modern world. An example of that is Ear Stretching, One of the boldest Maasai traditions that is currently becoming a massive trend. Jewelry of all sizes, colors, and shapes are being created by jewelers worldwide. Today's technology lets us have amazing jewelry made from shell, stone, bone, or wood to all kinds of metal and acrylic. These materials allow more color and variety to show up. Most employees that have body modifications are frowned upon by employers but luckily body modifications and piercings are becoming more socially acceptable world wide amongst all age groups lately.