ZOOMORPHIC, ANTHROPOMORPHIC AND GEOMETRIC TATTOOS FOR THE BEAUTIFICATION OF THE HUMAN BODY IN THE POST- PALEOLITHIC

Museum of the Origins of Man

POST-PALEOLITHIC ZOOMORPHIC, ANTHROPOMORPHIC AND GEOMETRIC TATTOOS TO EMBELLISH THE HUMAN BODY

Fig. F59) Animal figure tattoos on the human body.
Drawing from an archaeologist's reconstruction.
From the grave of a Shiite chief; the ice that covered it preserved the skin of the mummified corpse with tattoos made with colored inks and representing a deer and a stylized ram on the right arm, two griffons on the chest and on the right leg a fish with other animals and decorative drawings.
The style of the tattoos has a component of Chinese art. Among the Shiites, tattoos were symbols of the person's nobility. Dating: about 2500 years.
Origin: Pazyryk (Altai Mountains), Southern Siberia.
Civilization of the Shiites.

Fig. F60)Men with body completely covered with tattoos.
Origin: Hawaii Islands.
Etching of an European, 1841.
Tattooing in many peoples was a decoration for the beauty of the body. It was a tradition and a fashion; today, in Hawaii, it is in minor vogue. Instead, since some years it has spread as a fashion in Europe. Many young people get tattooed on every part of their bodies, even on shaved heads. Black or colored, tattoos can have the most varied subjects: from dragons to the name of a loved one.

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