Further Evaluation of Tattooing Use-Wear on Bone Tools

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018

Tattoos can be conceptualized as embodied experiences, ideas, and meanings expressed by groups and individuals. In Northeastern North America, many Iroquoian nations from the Contact period were known for practicing body transformations of this sort. Moreover, the archaeological literature abounds with cases of Iroquoian bone objects interpreted as tattooing implements. However, such functional interpretations are often proposed without any clear and thorough demonstration, and thus may be misleading. This paper presents the conclusive results of an experimental microwear analysis of replicated bone tattooing needles. They allow to access and investigate the social dimensions of tattooing practices in the past, as is illustrated with an example from St. Lawrence Iroquoians.

pp. 15-26 in "Tattoos and Body Modifications in Antiquity: Proceedings of the Sessions at the Annual Meetings of the European Association of Archaeologist in The Hague and Oslo, 2010/11", 2013

Although tattooing existed throughout the ancient world, there have been few archaeological identifications of actual tattoo implements outside of Oceania. This chapter discusses the archaeological footprint of ancient tattooing and uses cross-cultural comparative ethnographies to examine the material culture of the practice. These data show that identifying tattoo tools in an archaeological setting requires convincing association of those materials with pigments, supported by various additional items from a tattoo toolkit. Applying these associations to the archaeological record allows for identification of the oldest potential tattoo tools to date and suggests tattooing originated during the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa. PLEASE NOTE: In the time since this chapter was published, there have been important advances in archaeological efforts to identify tattooing tools through microwear signatures. Thanks to that work, and particularly the efforts of Gates St-Pierre (2018), we now know that use-wear on the bone tools from Blombos Cave discussed in this paper is *not* compatible with tattooing. The contextual argument presented here for identifying tools based on patterns of artifact associations still stands. See: Gates St-Pierre, C. 2018. Needles and bodies: A microwear analysis of experimental bone tattooing implements. J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 20: 881–887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.10.027.

Although tattoos have been observed on mummies dated to over 5000 years old, the generally poor preservation of human remains makes it difficult to use this type of adornment to understand how inscriptions on the body have been used to define self and social ascriptions. A potential method for detecting tattooing is to identify the tools used to make the markings. To assist recognition of tattooing tools, an extensive set of experiments was conducted in which retouched obsidian flakes bearing various pigments were used to pierce pig skin. Diagnostic use wear and residues associated with tattooing were identified. To illustrate the value of these results, traces preserved on a highly recognizable class of obsidian retouched artefacts from the Nanggu site (SE-SZ-8) in the Solomon Islands were analysed. Results indicate that these tools were used to pierce skin and may therefore have been tattooing implements involved in social, ritual and/or medical practices.

EXARC Journal, 2022

This paper presents the first experimental archaeological study to formally compare the physical characteristics of tattoos made on human skin using multiple pre-modern tools and tattooing techniques. Our project used eight tools fashioned from animal bone, obsidian, copper, and boar tusk, along with a modern steel needle, to create tattoos on the leg of co-author Danny Riday. Those tattoos were created through four different traditional, pre-electric techniques consisting of hand poking, hand tapping, incision, and subdermal tattooing. We then documented the tattoos over a six-month period to compare the results. This process revealed clear physical differences between tattoos created using different tools and methods. The resulting data is then used to assess preserved tattoos from archaeological sites in the Andes and Greenland in order to test assumptions about how those marks were created. Open access: bit.ly/EXARC_tattoo or https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10654

"Drawing with Great Needles: Ancient Tattoo Traditions of North America," edited by A. Deter-Wolf and C. Diaz-Granados, 2013

European explorers and settlers who traveled throughout the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains beginning in the sixteenth century left behind both textual and visual documentation of their journeys and of the people they encountered. The specific geographic areas and indigenous groups documented in the ethnohistorical record vary widely. However, one consistent aspect of these accounts is the description of permanent patterns and colors inscribed on the flesh of various Native American groups who interacted with the European chroniclers. It is unlikely that the indigenous tattoo traditions documented throughout the Great Plains and Eastern Woodlands beginning in the sixteenth century were recent cultural innovations. However, after more than a century of scientific archaeology very little is known about the origins or material culture of prehistoric tattooing in the study area. The introduction of European metal needles as trade items quickly replaced indigenous technology and thereby permanently altered traditional tattooing practices. To date archaeologists have seldom attempted to identify the artifact remains of prehistoric Native American tattooing, and the actual antiquity of the practice both in the study area and in the continental United States remains unclear. In this chapter I combine ethnohistorical sources and archaeological evidence to examine the material culture of prehistoric tattooing in the Great Plains and Eastern Woodlands. I begin with a discussion of the antiquity of tattooing in the region. Next, ethnohistorical and ethnographic sources are examined to identify descriptions of indigenous tattoo pigments and tools. That textual evidence is then compared to archaeological data from the region including rare formal identifications of prehistoric tattoo needles in an effort to recognize potential correlates. Finally, I discuss associations and context useful for identifying tattoo implements in the archaeological record.

The Vessel, 2024

Humans across the globe have tattooed their bodies for at least 5,000 years. However, the archaeological evidence for these practices has been largely overlooked. In this essay, archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf describes what drew him to the study of ancient tattooing, and how careful considerations of material culture, including artifacts and preserved human remains, are revealing new information about human bodies in the deep past. https://vessel-magazine.no/issues/7/transforming-bodies/tattoo-archaeology

2017

The desire to alter and adorn the human body is universal. While specific forms of body decoration, and the underlying motivations, vary according to region, culture, and era, all human societies have engaged in practices designed to augment and enhance their natural appearance. Tattooing, the process of inserting pigment into the skin to create permanent designs and patterns, appears on human mummies by 3200 BCE and was practiced by ancient cultures throughout the world. "Ancient Ink," the first book dedicated to the archaeological study of tattooing, presents new research from across the globe examining tattooed human remains, tattoo tools, and ancient art. It contributes to our understanding of the antiquity, durability, and significance of tattooing and human body decoration and illuminates how different societies have used their skin to construct their identities. Ancient Ink connects ancient body art traditions to modern culture through Indigenous communities and the work of contemporary tattoo artists. The contributors are Orlando V. Abinion, Analyn Salvador-Amores, Gemma Angel, Ronald G. Beckett, Tara Nicole Clark, Colin Dale, Aaron Deter-Wolf, Renée Friedman, Louise Furey, Lars Krutak, Svetlana Pankova, Dario Piombino-Mascali, Luc Renaut, Benoît Robitaille, Dong Hoon Shin, Isaac Walters, Leonid Yablonsky, and Petar N. Zidarov.

pp. 35-48 in "Tattoos and Body Modifications in Antiquity: Proceedings of the Sessions at the Annual Meetings of the European Association of Archaeologist in The Hague and Oslo, 2010/11", 2013

This chapter describes ongoing research into the archaeological remains of ancient tattooing in North America’s Eastern Woodlands. Ethnohistorical sources are first examined to identify indigenous tattoo technologies. Those tools are then recreated and applied in an experimental test to determine which are best suited to the practice of tattooing. Finally, this research explores the utility of scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in identifying tattoo implements from archaeological collections. While none of these techniques provide indisputable means of identifying ancient tattoo implements, together they provide a more robust understanding of ancient Native American tattooing practices.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2021

Analyses of archaeological bone tool assemblages from the southeastern United States rely principally on morphological classification systems to delineate typologies and infer artifact function. Under these systems the actual purpose of pointed bone artifacts generically classified as “awls” is frequently overlooked. In this study we move beyond basic morphological classification by combining zooarchaeological analysis, technological assessment, use-wear analysis, and materials science studies to examine an assemblage of bone tools from an ancient Native American site in central Tennessee. Our analysis reveals that approximately 3500–1600 BCE, occupants of the Fernvale site employed sharpened turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) bone tools as tattooing implements, and that both red and black pigment remains are directly associated with these artifacts. These materials comprise the earliest directly-identified tattooing tools to date, and demonstrate the persistence of Native American tattooing in southeastern North America over at least three millennia.