The oldest figures of this kind have been recovered from tombs in Japan dating to 5000 BCE or older. ![]() The earliest evidence of tattoo art comes in the form of clay figurines that had their faces painted or engraved to represent tattoo marks. The popular assumption that tattooing had a single origin is discredited. ![]() Such tales suggest that tattooing probably arose at various locations through bloodletting practices, scarification rituals, medical treatment or by chance. North-American Apache and Comanche warriors rubbed earth into battle wounds to make scarring more visible and flaunt them within the tribe, while the pygmies of New Guinea treated infections by rubbing herbs into incisions in the skin, causing permanent scarring. In his book ‘Missionary Travels and Research in South Africa’ (1857), David Livingstone wrote that many Africans tattooed themselves by introducing a black substance under the skin to cause a raised scar. The resulting decoration could be regarded as a tattoo. Plant sap rubbed into the wounds to prevent bleeding caused discolouration of the scar. The 19th-century German ethnologist and explorer Karl von den Steinen believed that tattooing in South America evolved from the custom of decorating the body with scars. ![]() In ‘ The Descent of Man’ (1871) Charles Darwin wrote that there was no country in the world that did not practice tattooing or some other form of permanent body decoration. The phenomenon of tattooing was once widespread.
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