Tattooing involves the insertion of colored materials beneath the skin surface. Original tattoos may have been the result of accidents, such as rubbing small cuts with hands still covered in soot or ash, which color remained in the skin when the wound healed. Russian researchers unearthing tombs in the south of Siberia during the 1940s found 2,500 year-old mummies with tattoos of animals and monsters. It is believed that the more complicated the tattoos were, the more social status the wearer had. The Egyptians too, were responsible to a large degree for the spread of this practice around the world. By 2,000 BC tattooing had stretched out all the way to southeast asia.
Earliest evidence of tattooing in Japan comes from clay figures with faces painted or engraved in
representation of tattoo marks. the oldest recovered from tombs dated to at least 3,000 BC. These statues acted as stand-ins for living people who symbolically journeyed with the dead into the unknown. Tattoos may have had religious or magical significance. First written record of Japanese tattooing is from 297 AD. They regarded tattooing as high art. Japanese tattoo artists, known as the Horis, were the undisputed masters of the craft, and the classic Japanese tattoo, is a full body suit. Polynesian tattooing, however is considered by real tattoo lovers to be the most intricate and skillful. Polynesian people believe that a person’s mana – their spiritual power or life force – is within their tattoo

American Indians also revered tattoos. Several tribes employed them for signifying bravery or status, while Eskimo Innuit women had chins tattooed to indicate marital status and group identity. First tattoo shop in New York opened in 1846, and Samuel o’Reilly invented the electric tattooing machine in 1891. Sailors have always it seems, loved having tattoos. After Captain Cook returned from his Polynesia trip, tattooing became a tradition in the British navy. King Edward VII received his first tattoo – a Jerusalem cross – on his arm in 1862, when still Prince of Wales, starting a fashion among the aristocracy. In 1882, his sons, the Dukes of Clarence and York, received tattoos by the Japanese master, Hori Chiyo.

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Maoris in New Zealand used their woodcarving skills to create fantastic tattoos.The full-face ‘moko’ was a mark of distinction, telling of their status, lines of descent, tribal affiliations, and it recalled the wearer’s exploits in war and other great events of their life. In Borneo tribal tattooing is still today as it has always been. Their designs form the basis of what the western people call ‘tribal’ nowadays.