Tattoo, an ancient art now very modern, where did it begin? or at least where can it be traced to? Mummies for one. The following is compiled from various sites about the history of tattoo art and the symbolism behind flesh art...

Tattooing is one of the oldest art forms on the planet, dating to prehistoric times and cave dwellers who often created tattooes as part of ritual practices linked to shamanism, protection, connection with their gods, and embuing them with magica powers. Early tattooing was used to symbolize the fertility of the earth and of womankind, preservation of life after death, the sacredness of chieftainship and other cultural factors.

Tattooed markings on skin and incised markings in clay provide some of the earliest evidence that humans have long practiced a wide range of body art. The written accounts of early European explorers also attest to the elaborate and widespread nature of tattooing in various parts of the world, providing an insight into traditions that had their origins deep in the past.

Marriage tattoos have been particularly popular to insure that you can find your lawful spouse or spouses in the afterlife, even if you have passed ‘through the veil,’ many years apart. Ancient Ainu marriage rites state that a woman who marries without first being tattooed, in the proper manner, commits a great sin and when she dies; she will go straight to God.

Tattooing as a rite of adulthood, or passage into puberty, was another common tattoo ritual. If a girl can’t take the pain of tattooing, she is un-marriageable, because she will never be able to deal with the pain of child birth. If a boy cannot deal with the pain of his puberty tattoos, he is considered to be a bad risk as a warrior, and could become an outcast.

Since the dawn of tattooing, people have been marking themselves with the signs of their totem animals. On the outer level of meaning, they are trying to gain the strengths and abilities of the totem animal. On a more inner and mystical level, totem animals mean that the bearer has a close and mysterious relationship with this animal spirit as his guardian. Totem animal tattoos often double as clan or group markings. Modern dragon, tiger, and eagle tattoos often subconsciously fall into this category. My snake tattoos are examples of DNA and the human biogenetic experiment.

Another common practice was tattooing for health wherein the tattooing of a god was placed on the afflicted person, to fight the illness for them. An offshoot of tattooing for health is tattooing to preserve youth. Maori girls tattooed their lips and chin, for this reason. When an old Ainu lady’s eyesight is failing, she can re-tattoo her mouth and hands, for better vision. This is still practiced today.

Tattoos for general good luck are found world-wide. A man in Burma who desires good luck will tattoo a parrot on his shoulder. In Thailand, a scroll representing Buddha in an attitude of meditation is considered a charm for good luck. In this charm, a right handed scroll is masculine and a left handed scroll is feminine. Today, in the West, you can see dice, spades, and Lady Luck tattoos, which are worn to bring luck.

Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice since Neolithic times. “Otzi the Iceman”,dated circa 3300 BC, exhibits possible therapeutic tattoos (small parallel dashes along lumbar and on the legs). Tarim Basin (West China, Xinjiang) revealed several tattooed mummies of a Western (Western Asian/European) physical type. Still relatively unknown (the only current publications in Western languages are those of J P. Mallory and V H. Mair, The Tarim Mummies, London, 2000), some of them could date from the end of the 2nd millennium BCE.

The world’s most spectacular tattooed mummy was discovered by Russian anthropologist Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko in 1948 during the excavation of a group of Pazyryk tombs about 120 miles north of the border between China and Russia.

These mummies were found in the High Altai Mountains of western and southern Siberia and date from around 2400 years ago. The tattoos on their bodies represent a variety of animals. The griffins and monsters are thought to have a magical significance but some elements are believed to be purely decorative. Altogether the tattoos are believed to reflect the status of the individual.

Three tattooed mummies (c. 300 BCE) were extracted from the permafrost of Altaï in the second half of the 20th century (the Man of Payzyrk, during the 1940s; one female mummy and one male in Ukok plateau, during the 1990s). Their tattooing involved animal designs carried out in a curvilinear style

Considering the number of tattooed mummies which have been discovered, it is apparent that tattooing was widely practiced throughout the ancient world and was associated with a high level of artistic endeavor. The imagery of ancient tattooing is in many ways similar to that of modern tattooing.

All of the known Pazyryk tattoos are images of animals. Animals are the most frequent subject matter of tattooing in many cultures and are traditionally associated with magic, totemism, and the desire of the tattooed person to become identified with the spirit of the animal. Tattoos which have survived on mummies suggest that tattooing in prehistoric times had much in common with modern tattooing.

Tattooing in Japan (Jomon Period)

Tattooing for spiritual and decorative purposes in Japan is thought to extend back to at least the Jomon or paleolithic period (approximately 10,000 BCE) and was widespread during various periods for both the Japanese and the native Ainu. Chinese visitors observed and remarked on the tattoos in Japan (300 BCE).

In Japanese the word used for traditional designs or those that are applied using traditional methods is irezumi (”insertion of ink”), while “tattoo” is used for non-Japanese designs. The earliest evidence of tattooing in Japan comes from figurines called dogu. Most of these date to 3000 years ago and display similar markings to the tattooed mouths found among the women of the Ainu (the Indigenous people of Japan).

Tattoo enthusiasts may refer to tattoos as tats, ink, art or work, and to tattooists as artists. The latter usage is gaining support, with mainstream art galleries holding exhibitions of tattoo designs and photographs of tattoos. Tattoo designs that are mass-produced and sold to tattoo artists and studios and displayed in shop are known as flash.

Irezumi

China

Tattooing has also been featured prominently in one of the Four Classic Novels in Chinese literature, Water Margin, in which at least three of the 108 characters, Lu Zhi Chen, Shi Jin, and Yan Chen are described as having tattoos covering nearly the whole of their bodies. In addition, Chinese legend has it that the mother of Yue Fei, the most famous general of the Song Dynasty, tattooed the words jin zhong bao guo on his back with her sewing needle before he left to join the army, reminding him to “repay his country with pure loyalty”.

Egypt
Tattooing has actually been practiced since the time of the ancient Egyptians and is common throughout the world. In 1891, archaeologists discovered the mummified remains of Amunet - Dynasty XI, Egypt, c. 4040 - 3994 years ago. This mummy was found at Thebes. Amunet (various spellings) was a priestess of Hathor. This female mummy displayed several lines and dots and dashes tattooed on her body, aligned in abstract geometrical patterns.

These dot-and-dash patterns have been seen for many years throughout Egypt. This pattern and skill of tattoo may have been borrowed from the Nubians. The art of tattoo developed during the Middle Kingdom and flourished beyond. The evidence to date suggests that this art form was restricted to women only, and usually these women were associated with ritualistic practice. These mummies give us site into how long this art form has been practiced and how their art was displayed. From continent to continent this art form has developed and transformed. Through the Egyptian eyes to other cultures, tattoo is something that satisfies various needs and interest.

A second mummy also found depicted this same type of line pattern (the dancer). This mummy also had a cicatrix pattern over her lower pubic region. In the figure to the right you can see the various patterns as they are displayed on the body. The various design patterns also appeared on several figurines that date to the Middle Kingdom, these figurines have been labeled the “Brides of Death.” The figurines are also associates with the goddess Hathor. All tattooed Egyptian mummies found to date are female. The location of the tattoos on the lower abdomen are thought to be linked to fertility.

Egyptian tattooing was someitmes related to the sensual, erotic, and emotional side of life, and all these themes are found in tattooing today.

Middle East

An archaic practice in the Middle East involved people cutting themselves and rubbing in ash during a period of mourning after an individual had died. It was a sign of respect for the dead and a symbol of reverence and a sense of the profound loss for the newly departed; and it is surmised that the ash that was rubbed into the self-inflicted wounds came from the actual funeral pyres that were used to cremate bodies. In essence, people were literally carrying with them a reminder of the recently deceased in the form of tattoos created by ash being rubbed into shallow wounds cut or slashed into the body, usually the forearms.

South Pacific

The term “tattoo” is traced to the Tahitian tatu or tatau, meaning to mark or strike, the latter referring to traditional methods of applying the designs.

The earliest evidence of tattooing in the Pacific is in the form of this pottery shard which is approximately 3000 years old. The Lapita face shows dentate (pricked) markings on the nose, cheeks and forehead, suggestive of the technique of tattoo application.

Maori of New Zealand

Between 1766 and 1779, Captain James Cook made three voyages to the South Pacific, the last trip ending with Cook’s death in Hawaii in February, 1779. When Cook and his men returned home to Europe from their voyages to Polynesia, they told tales of the ‘tattooed savages’ they had seen.

Cook’s Science Officer and Expedition Botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, returned to England with a tattoo. Banks was a highly regarded member of the English aristocracy and had acquired his position with Cook by putting up what was at the time the princely sum of some ten thousand pounds in the expedition. In turn, Cook brought back with him a tattooed Tahitian chief, whom he presented to King George and the English Court. Many of Cook’s men, ordinary seamen and sailors, came back with tattoos, a tradition that would soon become associated with men of the sea in the public’s mind and the press of the day. In the process sailors and seamen re-introduced the practice of tattooing in Europe and it spread rapidly to seaports around the globe.

It was in Tahiti aboard the Endeavour, in July of 1769, that Cook first noted his observations about the indigenous body modification and is the first recorded use of the word tattoo. In the Ship’s Log, Cook recorded this entry: “Both sexes paint their bodies, “Tattow,” as it is called in their Language. This is done by inlaying the colour of black under their skins, in such a manner as to be indelible. This method of Tattowing is a painful operation, especially the Tattowing of their buttocks. It is performed but once in their lifetimes.

The Concept of Tattooing Spreads

The British Royal Court must have been fascinated with the Tahitian chief’s tattoos, because the future King George V had himself inked with the ‘Cross of Jerusalem’ when he traveled to the Middle East in 1892. He also received a dragon on the forearm from the needles of an acclaimed tattoo master during a visit to Japan. George’s sons, The Duke of Clarence and The Duke of York were also tattooed in Japan while serving in the British Admiralty, solidifying what would become a family tradition.

Taking their sartorial lead from the British Court, where Edward VII followed George V’s lead in getting tattooed; King Frederick IX of Denmark, the King of Romania, Kaiser Wilhelm II, King Alexander of Yugoslavia and even Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, all sported tattoos, many of them elaborate and ornate renditions of the Royal Coat of Arms or the Royal Family Crest. King Alfonso of modern Spain also had a tattoo.

Tattooing spread among the upper classes all over Europe in the nineteenth century, but particularly in Britain where it was estimated in Harmsworth Magazine in 1898 that as many as one in five members of the gentry were tattooed. There, it was not uncommon for members of the social elite to gather in the drawing rooms and libraries of the great country estate homes after dinner and partially disrobe in order to show off their tattoos. Aside from her consort Prince Albert, there are persistent rumours that Queen Victoria had a small tattoo in an undisclosed ‘intimate’ location; Denmark’s king Frederick was filmed showing his tattoos taken as a young sailor. Winston Churchill’s mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, not only had a tattoo of a snake around her wrist, which she covered when the need arose with a specially crafted diamond bracelet, but had her nipples pierced as well. Carrying on the family tradition, Winston Churchill was himself tattooed. In most western countries tattooing remains a subculture identifier, and is usually performed on less-often exposed parts of the body.

Pre-Christian Germanic Celtic and other central and northern European tribes were often heavily tattooed, according to surviving accounts. The pictures were famously tattooed (or scarified) with elaborate dark blue woad (or possibly copper for the blue tone) designs. Julius Caesar described these tattoos in Book V of his Gallic Wars (54 BCE).

Ahmad ibn Fadlan also wrote of his encounter with the Scandinavian Rus’ tribe in the early 10th century, describing them as tattooed from “fingernails to neck” with dark blue “tree patterns” and other “figures.”

During the gradual process of Christianization in Europe, tattoos were often considered remaining elements of paganism and generally legally prohibited. According to Robert Graves in his book The Greek Myths tattooing was common amongst certain religious groups in the ancient Mediterranean world, which may have contributed to the prohibition of tattooing in Leviticus.

The Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians. Tattooing is mentioned in accounts by Plato, Aristophanes, Julius Caesar and Herodotus. Tattoos were generally used to mark slaves and punish criminals.

The Romans adopted tattooing from the Greeks. In the 4th century, the first Christian emperor of Rome banned the facial tattooing of slaves and prisoners. In 787, Pope Hadrian prohibited all forms of tattooing.

In the 18th century, many French sailors returning from voyages in the South Pacific had been elaborately tattooed. In 1861, French naval surgeon, Maurice Berchon, published a study on the medical complications of tattooing. After this, the Navy and Army banned tattooing within their ranks.

The ancient Celts didn’t have much in the way of written record keeping, consequently, there is little evidence of their tattooing remaining. Most modern Celtic designs are taken from the Irish Illuminated Manuscripts, of the 6th and 7th centuries. This is a much later time period than the height of Celtic tattooing. Designs from ancient stone and metal work are more likely to be from the same time period as Celtic tattooing.

In England, tattooing flourished in the 19th century and became something of a tradition in the British Navy. In 1862, the Prince of Wales received his first tattoo - a Jerusalem cross - after visiting the Holy Land. In 1882, his sons, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of York (later King George V) were tattooed by the Japanese master tattooist, Hori Chiyo.

South America

In Peru, tattooed Inca mummies dating to the 11th century have been found. Inca tattooing is characterized by bold abstract patterns which resemble contemporary tribal tattoo designs.

In Mexico and Central America, 16th century Spanish accounts of Mayan tattooing reveal tattoos to be a sign of courage. When Cortez and his conquistadors arrived on the coast of Mexico in 1519 they were horrified to discover that the natives not only worshipped devils in the form of statues and idols, but had somehow managed to imprint indelible images of these idols on their skin. The Spaniards, who had never heard of tattooing, recognized it at once as the work of Satan. As far as we know, only one Spaniard was ever tattooed by the Mayas. His name was Gonzalo Guerrero, and he is mentioned in several early histories of Mexico.

North America Tattoo

In North America, early Jesuit accounts testify to the widespread practice of tattooing among Native Americans. Among the Chickasaw, outstanding warriors were recognized by their tattoos. Among the Ontario Iroquoians, elaborate tattoos reflected high status.

When Europeans first arived in the New World, they found Native Americans had a rich and ancient tattooing tradition. Capt. John Smith, of Virginia, mentioned Native American tattoos in his writing in the 1600’s. Most tribes celebrated adulthood with tattoo puberty rites. Simple lines and geometric patterns were used and women often had lines extending from the lower lip onto the chin. Arapaho men tattooed three dots on their own chest, to prove their manhood. The Sioux, among other tribes, believed that tattoos were necessary as a rite de passage into the spirit world. As a ghost warrior rode towards the “Many Lodges”, he would encounter an old woman, who would demand to see his tattoos. If he had none to show, he and his horse were pushed off the path, and fell to earth, where they became aimlessly wandering spirits, who were eternally unsatisified. With the coming of Christianity, Native American tattooing disappeared and stories changed, until we only hear of the body painting of the American Indians.

In north-west America, Inuit women’s chins were tattooed to indicate marital status and group identity.

Tattooing is probably the most popular form of body adornment in America today. The designs can be small and discreet or large and obvious. Many people prefer discreet designs that can be concealed for certain occasions.

for more info on tattoos both ancient and modern you can check out Wikipedia 

THE MAORI MOKO

The area of the Moko from Angas’s painting that indicates the megalithic British Sabbatical calendar system.

Central upon the forehead is a composite design made up of prominent Mediterranean / European elements… the Fleur de Lys and the Caduceus / Leminiscate. The Fleur de Lys, in its earliest form, was found in both Egypt and the Temple of Solomon, built by the Hebrews / Israelites. The Caduceus symbolised the “Brasen Serpent” of Moses and, throughout pre-Celtic/ Celtic art, dual snakes are represented prominently. These dual snake symbols are widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean from Egypt to Great Britain. The Caduceus is now the foremost of all “medical symbols”.

The facial art is in homage to the Sun God RA and each section of the face depicts some aspect of Sun movement. If one counts the lighter lines, from above the eyebrows, including in the count the stem of the Fleur de Lys, it will add up to 14 markings overall. The right side of picture shows the face to have an extra such line on the forehead. This holds true of the dark lines as well, where the total (overall)… so what could this signify in terms of Sun cycles? The number of whole days from Vernal equinox to Autumn equinox is 182 and this is also the sum total of 13 X 14. It’s probable that the additional lines (or spaces between lines) found on one side of the face, allude to the warmer part of the year, where the span of comfortable weather extends (in New Zealand and based on the 12 month system) between October to the end of April. The other side of the face alludes to the wintry, less comfortable and stormy months…May to September.

The 13 dark segments would represent the year broken up into 13 months of 28 days (364 days) or, simply, equinox to equinox. This means a year of 52 weeks of 7 days duration each. The light streaks would represent either 13 or, ultimately, 26 bi-weekly periods of 14 days duration each. The use of 7, 14 or 28 was universally employed to break time up into weeks, bi-weeks and months. It’s plausible to believe that the facial markings to the left side of the picture (forehead) represent the Winter Solstice, arching up to the Equinox from the eyebrow. The inference, on this side of the face, is days that are shorter and nights longer, hence the larger block of dark coloration adjacent to the Fleur de Lys. That’s the period of the year dominated by night. The other side of the face depicts the period dominated by light and warmth, hence the smaller block of dark coloration. The eyes of the individual represents the Sun or the “All Seeing Eye” of RA Himself, sitting in the Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice positions.

The figure “8″ (part of the Caduceus or Leminiscate), at the base of the stem of the “Fleur de Lys”, could represent the undulating Ecliptic line (the line upon which the zodiacal constellations or planetary orbits are found), where some stars, not visible in Winter, will rise above the horizon in Summer…and vice-versa. This effect could be compared to the slithering motion of a snake or 2 snakes, crossing over each other in eternal forward undulating motion. The “summer” snake curls toward winter and the “winter” snake curls toward summer, showing as they proceed, their own unique array of background stars.

With the use of strokes equating to  (dark) and (light) the primary elements are in place for remembering the numbers associated with the ancient Sabbatical cycle system…but there’s another link to consider.

THE MAORI MOKO & TUTANKHAMUN’S DEATH MASK.

Both the Maori Moko and the death mask of Tutankhamun are clear representations of the movements of RA and the cyclic numbers, which lead to the creation of a workable and practical solar calendar system. There is an outwardly conspicuous association between the Moko of Maoridom and the funerary mask of the young Pharaoh. The vertical, full frontal, aspect of the mask of Tutankhamun could, reasonably be described as representing 7 separate sections, with each section either independently or in unison with other sections, carrying particular coded information. The sections, working clockwise from the bottom left, are as follows:

An inclined section angling slightly back toward the top. This section is made up of horizontal bars of both dark blue and gold stripes. The section finishes at a point where the mask assumes its widest dimension, adjacent to the mouth and then angles to the vertical. There are a total of 15 gold bands in this section and 14 dark blue ones. The section immediately opposite, on the other side of the mask , is identical.

The second, vertical section, where the bands of dark blue and gold stripes are wider and more pronounced. In this section there are 9 dark blue stripes and 8 gold ones.

In the third section the stripes are vertical, as this is the area above the forehead to the left side of the mask, terminating at the side of the elaborate, raised and embellished, centre gold stripe. In this section there are a total of 5 dark blue stripes and 5 gold ones.

The beautifully embellished centre band, representing dual snake bodies partially intertwined. The dual snakes are likewise depicted, entwined, on the staff of the Caduceus, in Angas’s painting of the Maori Moko, at exactly this location of the central forehead. Note: There could be some interpretational confusion as to the meaning behind these “serpents” on Tutankhamun’s mask. One of the funerary mask snakes has a Cobra head, whereas the other has the head of a Vulture. The bird-headed serpent is thought, by some researchers, to represent the “feathered serpent” (much displayed in South America), as the selfsame “feathered” aspect is seen on the serpent of Tutankhamun’s mask.

The right section of the forehead, where there are 4 dark blue stripes and 4 gold ones. This section is at variance with its counterpart to the left and was very deliberately constructed with one dark blue and one gold, stripe less than its companion section. This duplicates, exactly, what happens on many known 19th century Maori Moko’s, where this deliberate imbalance was incorporated into the tattoo design.

Reverting to horizontal stripes once again, this time to the right side of the mask. In this section there are 9 dark blue bands and 8 gold ones…equal to its directly opposite section.

The final section, equivalent to section 1, with 14 dark blue bands and 15 gold ones. The question arises…how do these separate sections, either individually or in unison with other sections, divulge the significant numbers of the Egyptian calendar system? Also, how do the numbers equate to those, more starkly depicted, on Maori Moko’s of the 19th century?

The main region of Tutankhamun’s mask that directly relates to this is the sweep from the mouth region, upward, across the forehead and down to an adjacent position opposite the beginning point . To the right side of the headdress there are 13 dark blue bands. This would represent the 13 months of 28 days duration each, which constituted the raw year count of 364 days. There are a total of 13 dark forehead lines in the Maori Moko of Angas’s painting.
On the left side of the headdress, rising to the forehead, there are 14 dark blue lines. This indicates bi-weekly periods of 14 days and, by comparison, there are exactly 14 light lines on the Maori Moko depicted in the painting. In order for the year to achieve its 364-day count, there must be 26 of these bi-weekly divisions. That’s where the gold bands of the mask come into play, for there are exactly 26 of these, arcing from one side of the mouth to the other, inclusive of the central, ornate Equinox band.

To the right side of the mask, in this sweep, there are 12 gold stripes, not including the centre band. This would represent the 12 Houses of the Zodiac, through which the Sun was seen to rise during one solar cycle (Solar year). On the left side of the mask, in this sweep, there are 13 gold stripes, not including the centre band and this would allude, again, to the 13-month calendar year. It is also significant that the total number of gold bands, for all sections combined, equals 56 (2 X 28), which duplicates the “post count” on the Aubrey Circle at Stonehenge. A manual count of positions calculated weeks, months and years, through Sabbatical Years to the Jubilee Year, complete with corrective intercalary insertions. 56 positions and spaces between positions were used. There are also 55 dark blue bands and this number has significance, in a special way, to the Giza Plateau, inasmuch as it is a perfect pyramid number.

If one borrows 55 wooden blocks from the children’s toy box and lays out 10 for the bottom course, 9 for the second course, 8 for the next, etc, then block number 55 will form the single block apex of a symmetrical pyramid. The finished pyramid will be 10 blocks long and 10 courses high. The number 55 has its root significance in 11. A circle diameter of 55 or 550 goes on to provide one of the most sought after perimeter calibrations of antiquity (1728). Miringa te Kakara’s Crosshouse, in New Zealand, was contained within a circle of 55 feet. Alternatively, Silbury Hill’s diameter was intended to convey 550 feet. The Great Pyramid’s base perimeter was 1728 British Royal Cubits (21 inches each)….36288″ ÷ 21″ = 1728.

PRE-DYNASTIC EGYPT

The Egyptian region is known to have been idyllic from 10,000 BC till around 4000 BC. During that long expanse of time the rains lessened and there was a creeping tendency toward aridity. By 4000 BC the ice flows of Europe were gone and that region offered better prospects for long-term agriculture. Compelling evidence suggests that there were large population migrations out of Egypt from 4000 to 3000 BC. This might have been the time when the catch phrase, ‘Go west young man’, was first uttered. Pocket groups of the original descendants of the Great Pyramid builders, undoubtedly, stayed on in Egypt and its satellites and did not join the general exodus. Later the abandoned cities were reoccupied by yet other groups and a melange of cultural expression resulted.

Professor, C. S. Coon of Harvard University, wrote in 1939 concerning “skull types”, ‘A true and valid similarity, however, may be found between the English Long Barrow series and the early skulls from al’Ubaid in Sumeria, which, whether belonging to the fourth or the third millennium B.C., are in either case older than their British counterparts. The only difference which prevents identity is that the Mesopotamian faces and noses are somewhat longer’ (p. 112).

Earlier in his book (p. 83) Professor Coon writes, It can be shown that Sumerians who lived over five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia are almost identical in skull and face form with living Englishmen and that pre-dynastic Egyptian skulls can be matched both in a seventeenth century London plague pit and in Neolithic cist graves in Switzerland’ (see Races of Europe, by Professor C.S.Coon, Macmillan, N. Y., 1939). Evidence suggesting continuous migrations out of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin, over a span of centuries or millennia, is found in the clearly marked trails westward. A well-established migratory route, marked by standing stones, cairns, dolmens, mounds and stone circles, extends from Israel across the top of North Africa to the Spanish Peninsula. It further extends along the Atlantic Coast of France to Scandinavia in the north and the British Isles to the west. Other trails, marked in similar fashion, extend to China and Korea. (See, Palestine, by Major C. R.Conder, R. E., George Philip & Son, 1889, pp. 142 -157.See also, Across The Jordan, by Gottlieb Schumacher, Richard Bentley & Son, 1886).

We know that a strong Megalithic culture existed throughout the Eastern Mediterranean from very early times and some of our best indicators of its, “all-pervading significance” are found in the Bible. Many Biblical references indicate a legacy of veneration directed toward stone circles, cairn and other types of stone monuments. The use of cairn to mark trails and wayside points was considered to be a “social responsibility” for the benefit of the “wayfarer”. Symbolic reference to this responsibility is given in an edict from Jeremiah which says, ‘Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest…’(Jeremiah 31: 21.).
This late era reference, by Jeremiah, to marking the trails, is based on a megalithic tradition that extends back to pre-Dynastic Egypt. In many respects, the remnant component structures of those trails point the way to a former home and the place from whence individual European nations came. From the standpoint of the civilisations that have, for millennia, occupied the Western European counties, vestiges of language (especially Gaelic), customary practices, stone circle and geometrically based astronomical / religious systems, schools of higher learning and the Druidic tradition, bagpipes, harps, flutes, pentatonic musical scales and plinth rhythms, obelisks and conical towers, measurement standards, cranial similarities and general ethnology, etc., point to a region of origin centred on Egypt and its satellite countries.

The ancient influences of Egypt can be seen in the “cicatrisation” tattoo of this West African warrior. There appears to have been a deliberate attempt to create an imbalance in the number of lines on each side of the forehead. It would appear that 13 lines was the design intention. The concept closely parallels the Maori Moko design type of Angas’s painting and, by consequence, early era Sabbatical cycle symbolism.

FROM WHENCE CAME THE MORIORI STICK FIGURE DESIGNS.

Figure 15: To the left is a Moriori tree trunk carving that was found on the Chatham Islands off the East coast of New Zealand. To the right is a composite picture showing various of their stick figure designs. The gentle, part-Polynesian Moriori people had fled to the isolated and distant Island group several centuries ago, seeking refuge from the Maori cannibal warriors. Their physically demanding but peaceful sanctuary was discovered by Maori crewmen working aboard early 19th century whaling boats. They reported their find to mainland Maoris who then commandeered European ships to transport Maori warriors to the Chatham’s. Thereafter, 35 years of enslavement and cannibal consumption of the Morioris reduced their numbers from 1700 to a mere 101 people, by the time of the British census of 1862.

Although, on the surface, the Moriori stick figures might appear to be simplistic and, by some points of view, indicative of undeveloped culture, nothing could be further from the truth. To explore the true pedigree of this metamorphasised geometric design, one must understand principles of ancient astronomical geometry.

There was a singular, universal, astronomical/ geometric method, which migrated with ancient Indo-Europeans to their far-flung colonies all over the world. The system itself had been developed, either in pre-Dynastic Egypt or during earlier eras, when European peoples lived to the East of Egypt. The universal astronomical system was for setting up fully functioning observatories at any latitude and determining such complex computations as the duration of the Precession of the Equinoxes or solar, lunar and stellar cycles. Indo-Europeans adhered to an obsessive-compulsive policy of keeping the age-old knowledge alive throughout the generations, inasmuch as the seeds of civilization and national identity were contained within remembrance of the size of the Earth, navigation, how to compute the recurrence of cycles and how to measure time.

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TATTOOED MUMMIES OF CENTRAL ASIA

Mummies have been found in Central Asia! Though these curious Caucasian mummies in the deserts of western China were first discovered by Western archaeologists in the early 20th century, they were considered anomalies—perhaps just ancient travelers or immigrants. Over the past thirty years Chinese archeologists have unearthed hundreds more of these mummified Caucasoids (as well as abundant skeletal remains amounting to thousands of ancient individuals) in the Tarim basin of Central Asia. The Tarim is in the huge Taklamakan desert in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, formerly known as eastern Turkestan.

Today the ancient Chinese texts which speak of legendary tall people with red hair and green eyes (formerly denigrated as mere “myths”) are being reinterpreted. They are not just imaginary tales as has been assumed until recently, but they tell of the very real Tocharian-branch Indo-European people, relatives of the Celts and Scythians, who possibly controlled the Silk Road during Middle and Egyptian New Kingdom times, and down to the Classical Greek era. They certainly would have been involved in the transmission of technology and culture between East and West at a very early date.

The time span of the Central Asian Caucasoids is from 2500 BC to 400 B.C. The location is within a few hundred miles of the Altai “Scythian” burials which date from approximately 500-300 BC. There is definitly some connection here. There is also a connection between the Taklamakan people and the Crimean Scyths, the Celts and the Picts. They likely influenced the “indigenous” tattooing of the tribal peoples of India, and possibly are antecedent to the Jomon culture of Japan (ancestors of the tattooed Ainu). There is credible evidence that some of the tattooing tribes of northern Asia migrated eastward to become certain tribes in the Americas as well.

As early as 1986 it was reported in world news sources that some of these mummies bore tattoos in “geometric” patterns. Thus far images of these tattoos have not been published in any accessible form. Victor Mair did an all too brief special for Nova on the mummies, but none of the tattoos were shown.

The Chinese central government does not support publication or dissemination of information about the Caucasian attributes of these people. Also tattooing has been illegal in China since the time of Emperor Qin [’Chin’], about 200 BC.

The Tribal Bible Volume One presents images of all the “Chinese” Caucasian mummy tattoo patterns currently known and lots more information about them then you are reading here. We have been assisting the archaeologists in the research on these people and have the very latest data on their tattoos.

THE ALTAIC SCYTHIANS

The most stunning example of ancient pictorial tattooing is the heavily tattooed Scythian chieftain, the “godfather of the Tribal Tattoo,” discovered by Russian archeologists in Siberia near the Mongolian and Chinese borders in 1947. The mummy was unearthed from a kurgan burial mound at Pazyryk in the Altai Mountains and was dated to ca. 500 BC, though archaeologist James Mallory (author of In Search of the Indo-Europeans) believes he is more properly dated to about 300 BC.

The chieftain was preserved as an “ice-cube” because water leaked into the kurgan and froze immediately and permanently. His arms, shoulders and parts of his torso and one leg were covered with unique bold blackline tribal animal motifs. They have stylistic echoes of Persian, Assyrian, Indian art and particularly strong parallels in the Zhou (Chou) Dynasty and Warring States periods of Chinese art.

This clearly defined and strongly developed style, which has been dubbed “Animal Style”, was used for centuries on fabric, wood and metal artifacts produced across the vast expanse of the steppes which the Scyths (and their various tribal relations) roamed and ruled. It influenced the art of the Celts and the Goths as well as the Chinese.

The tattooed chieftain was of Mongolian stock in a predominantly Caucasian tribe. He was a great warrior with many kills. Each tattoo doubtlessly indicated another enemy slain (as the Spanish noted was the case amongst the Aztec warriors). This is reflected in modern American culture, where gun-fighters cut notches in their pistol grips, fighter pilots paint kill emblems on their cockpits, and army personnel wear ribbons on their chest.

A horse-worshiping nomadic people, the Scythians are thought to have ranged from the Altai in the East to the Crimea/Pontus region in the West. They were well known to the ancient Greeks. The Persians and Chinese called them the “Sakas.” Herodotus gives extensive descriptions of them including their burial customs. Most of these accounts, long thought to have been solely the fruit of Herodotus’ fevered imagination, have been shown to be quite accurate by the science of Archaeology.

The Scythians’ centers of culture revolved around sacred initiation and burial sites. They sometimes conquered and plundered major city-states and kingdoms (notably of China and Mesopotamia, and even fought with the New Kingdom Egyptians). They, and their descendants, held sway throughout central Asia for over 2,500 years (probably from 2100 BC to ca. 1000 AD) until the rise of the Mongols.

They generally spurned agriculture and permanent construction or architecture. Their nomadic herding culture was horse-centered and they exploited abundant natural surface deposits of gold. The impressive Scythian burials nearly always contain gold artifacts and ornaments (if they have not been plundered previously when excavated).

Another very similarly tattooed frozen body was discovered nearby at Ukok in 1994, this one a twenty-five year old woman, a “warrior-priestess” who had several tattoos in an identical style. Buried in splendor with her horse, this woman seems to have been a living archetype of Epona, the Euro-Celtic horse-goddess. One of her tattoos is so similar to one of the chieftan’s as to have been applied by the same artist, or one working from the same pattern. Considering that possibility is what makes the following real interesting:

The Scythians used the first transfer patterns, 2500 years ago. Close scrutiny of a felt silhouette cut-out from Pazyryk, found by Rudenko in 1947, reveals it to be an identical match with one of the tattoos on the famous warrior found the same year. [Felt artifact published in The Ancient Art of Northern Asia by Anatoly I Martynov, fig. 69 (5), p. 197] This ram with reversed hind-quarters (considered a Scythian artistic convention to represent a dead animal) is on his upper right arm. No doubt the felt was impregnated with vegetable dye, applied and allowed to stain the skin with the image by direct wet transfer. This pattern making craft is seen today in the Chinese folk art of paper cut silhouettes, many of which are still represent the ever popular animal motifs. The felt silhouette was found in the same mound as the tattooed chief.

Another very important fact about the tattooed chieftan is that his penis was tattooed. (I do not know if we really know about that one)

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