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History of tattooing

Indigenous People of North America
Indigenous People of North America have a long history of tattooing. Tattooing was not a simple marking on the skin: it was a process that highlighted cultural connections to Indigenous ways of knowing and viewing the world, as well as connections to family, society, and place.

There is no way to determine the actual origin of tattooing for Indigenous People of North America since evidence of tattooing has been found from all over the world dating back to at least 8000 years ago. The oldest known physical evidence of tattooing in North America was made through the discovery of a frozen, mummified, Inuit female on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska who had tattoos on her skin. Through radiocarbon dating of the tissue, scientists estimated that the female came from the 16th century. Until recently, archeologists have not prioritized the classification of tattoo implements when excavating known historic sites. Recent review of materials found from the Mound Q excavation site point towards elements of tattoo bundles that are from pre-colonization times. Scholars explain that the recognition of tattoo implements is significant because it highlights the cultural importance of tattooing for Indigenous People.

Early explorers to North America made lots of ethnographic observations about the Indigenous People they met. Initially, they did not have a word for tattooing and instead described the skin modifications as "pounce, prick, list, mark, and raze" to "stamp, paint, burn, and embroider." In 1585-1586, Thomas Harriot, who was part of the Grenville Expedition, was responsible for making observations about Indigenous People of North America. In A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virgina, Harriot recorded that some Indigenous People had their skin dyed and coloured. John White provided visual representations of Indigenous People in the form of drawings and paintings. Harriot and White also provided information highlighting specific markings seen on Indigenous chiefs during that time. In 1623, Gabriel Sagard was a missionary who described seeing men and women with tattoos on their skin. From 1712-1717, Joseph François Lafitau, a Jesuit missionary, recorded how Indigenous People were applying tattoos to their skin and developed healing strategies in tattooing the jawline to treat toothaches. Indigenous People had determined that certain nerves that were along the jawline connected to certain teeth, thus by tattooing those nerves, it would stop them from firing signals that led to toothaches. Some of these early ethnographic accounts questioned the actual practice of tattooing and hypothesized that it could make people sick due to unsanitary approaches.

Scholars explain that the study of Indigenous tattooing is relatively new as it was initially perceived as behaviour for societies outside of the norm. The process of colonization introduced new views of what acceptable behaviour included, leading to the near erasure of the tattoo tradition for many nations. However, through oral traditions, the information about tattoos and the actual practice of tattooing has persisted to present day.

Inuit People
The Inuit People have a deep history of tattooing. In the Inuktituk language, the word kakiniit translates to the English word for tattoo and the word tunniit means face tattoo. Among the Inuit, some nations tattooed female faces and parts of the body to symbolize a girl transitioning into a woman, coinciding with the start of her first menstrual cycle. A tattoo represented a woman's beauty, strength, and maturity. This was an important practice because some Inuit believed that a woman could not transition into the spirit world without tattoos on her skin. The Inuit People have oral traditions that describe how the raven and the loon tattooed each other giving cultural significance to both the act of tattooing and the role of those animals in Inuit history. European missionaries colonized the Inuit People in the beginning of the 20th century and associated tattooing as an evil practice "demonizing" anyone who valued tattoos. Alethea Arnaquq-Baril has helped Inuit women to revitalize the practice of traditional face tattoos through the creation of the documentary Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos, where she interviews elders from different communities asking them to recall their own elders and the history of tattoos. The elders were able to recall the traditional practice of tattooing which often included using a needle and thread and sewing the tattoo into the skin by dipping the thread in soot or seal oil, or through skin poking using a sharp needle point and dipping it into soot or seal oil. Hovak Johnston has worked with the elders in her community to bring the tradition of kakiniit back by learning the traditional ways of tattooing and using her skills to tattoo others.

Osage Nation
The Osage People used tattooing for a variety of different reasons. The tattoo designs were based on the belief that people were part of the larger cycle of life and integrated elements of the land, sky, water, and the space in between to symbolize these beliefs. In addition, the Osage People believed in the smaller cycle of life, recognizing the importance of women giving life through childbirth and men removing life through warfare. Osage men were often tattooed after accomplishing major feats in battle, as a visual and physical reminder of their elevated status in their community. Some Osage women were tattooed in public as a form of a prayer, demonstrating strength and dedication to their nation.

Haudenosaunee People
The Haudenosaunee People historically used tattooing in connection to war. A tradition for many young men was to go on a journey into the wilderness, fast from eating any food, and discover who their personal manitou was. Scholars explain that this process of discovery likely included dreams and visions that would bring a specific manitou to the forefront for each young man to have. The manitou became an important element of protection during warfare and many boys tattooed their manitou onto their body to symbolize cultural significance of the manitou to their lives. As they showed success in warfare, male warriors had more tattoos, some even keeping score of all the kills they had made. Some warriors had tattoos on their faces that tallied how many people they had scalped in their lifetime.