History of Tattoos Timeline

Direct evidence for tattooing human skin extends only to the 4th millennium BCE, between 3370 and 3100 BCE, making it one of the oldest known forms of body art practiced by humans.

In 2018, the world's oldest figurative tattoos were identified on two well-preserved Egyptian mummies, a man and a woman dated between 3351 and 3017 BCE, bearing figural patterns of horned animals.

According to the American Research Center in Egypt, tattooed human remains and iconographic evidence indicate that ancient Egyptians practiced tattooing from at least 2000 BCE.

Greek written records, particularly from Herodotus, suggest that the Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians during the sixth century BCE.

Based on writings of ancient authors such as Herodotus, Cicero, and Strabo, ethnographic studies have concluded that tattooing among the peoples of the Balkan peninsula was known since ancient times.

Tattoos can conceivably be identified on the wall of a late 4th-century tomb chamber from Arpi, in which a painting shows tattoos on the arms of a 'priestess' riding a quadriga.

Image source: Arpi

The Romans of Late Antiquity also tattooed soldiers and arms manufacturers, a practice that continued into the ninth century.

A 2015 scientific re-assessment confirmed Ötzi the Iceman as the earliest known individual with tattoos, whose mummified body preserved in the Alps bears numerous small markings.

Image source: Ötzi

In his encounter with a group of pagan Scandinavian Rus' merchants in the early 10th century, Ahmad ibn Fadlan describes what he witnesses among them, including their appearance covered in markings.

Image source: Ahmad ibn Fadlan

A Spanish expedition led by Gonzalo de Badajoz in 1515 across what is today Panama ran into a village where prisoners from other tribes had been marked with tattoos.

When Ferdinand Magellan's expedition first encountered the Visayans of the Philippine islands in 1521, he repeatedly described them as 'painted all over', referring to their extensive tattoos.

Image source: Visayans

In 1566, French sailors abducted an Inuk woman and her child in modern-day Labrador and brought them to Antwerp, where they were put on display at a local tavern at least until 1567.

In 1577, English privateer Martin Frobisher captured two Inuit and brought them back to England for public display.

Image source: Martin Frobisher

In 1585–1586, Thomas Harriot, part of the Grenville Expedition, was responsible for making observations about Indigenous People of North America, including their tattooing practices.

Image source: Thomas Harriot

British and other pilgrims to the Holy Lands throughout the 17th century were tattooed with the Jerusalem cross to commemorate their voyages, including William Lithgow in 1612.

Image source: William Lithgow (traveller and author)

In 1623, Gabriel Sagard was a missionary who described seeing men and women with tattoos on their skin among the Indigenous peoples he encountered.

Image source: Gabriel Sagard

The Jesuit Relations of 1652 describes tattooing among the Petun and the Neutrals, including using needles or thorns to perforate the skin and applying powdered charcoal to imprint an indelible image.

Image source: The Jesuit Relations

Jeoly was bought from a Mindanaoan slave trader in 1690 by a 'Mister Moody', passed to explorer William Dampier, displayed in England, examined at Oxford University, and died of smallpox in the summer of 1692. His preserved tattooed skin was later lost.

Image source: Tattoo

From 1712 to 1717, Jesuit missionary Joseph François Lafitau recorded how Indigenous people applied tattoos to their skin and developed healing strategies, such as tattooing the jawline to treat toothaches.

Image source: Joseph-François Lafitau

Between 1766 and 1779, Captain James Cook made three voyages to the South Pacific. In July 1769 aboard the Endeavour in Tahiti, Cook first recorded the word 'tattoo', from Tahitian tatau, referring to permanent skin marking.

Image source: James Cook

Between 1603 and 1868, Japanese tattooing was only practiced by the ukiyo (floating world) subculture, and by the early 17th century criminals were widely tattooed as a visible mark of punishment.

Tattoos became widespread in the Ottoman Empire, likely through influence from Arabs, gaining popularity by the 18th century in Istanbul; 16th-century Ottoman scholars had described the tattoo as very common among the Arabs.

By the 19th century tattooing had spread to British society but remained associated with sailors and the lower classes; it then spread among upper classes across Europe, and Harmsworth Magazine estimated in 1898 that as many as one in five members of the gentry were tattooed.

The first recorded tattoo artist in the United States was Martin Hildebrandt, who in 1846 was tattooing sailors and soldiers with patriotic tattoos of flags and battles.

Image source: Martin Hildebrandt

The Government of Meiji Japan, formed in 1868, banned the art of tattooing altogether, viewing it as barbaric and lacking respectability.

Image source: Meiji Restoration

In 1891, New York City tattooer Samuel O'Reilly patented the first electric tattoo machine, a modification of Thomas Edison's electric pen, revolutionizing the speed and ease of tattooing.

Image source: Samuel O'Reilly

The U.S. military issued regulations on tattoos in 1909, which concerned the subject matter of the tattoos allowed to be pictured on servicemen; a 1908 article reported that 75% of sailors in the U.S. Navy were tattooed.

In 1936, it was estimated that 1 in 10 Americans had a tattoo of some form, reflecting the growing presence of tattooing in American culture.

In 1969, the House of Lords debated a bill to ban the tattooing of minors, on grounds it had become 'trendy' with the young but was associated with crime.

Image source: House of Lords

It took two decades and creators like Lyle Tuttle and Ed Hardy in 1970, Freddy Negrete and Jack Rudy in 1980, and celebrity patrons like Janis Joplin, Peter Fonda, and Cher for tattooing to be brought back into society's good graces.

Image source: Lyle Tuttle

In 1988, scholar Arnold Rubin created a collection of works regarding the history of tattoo cultures, publishing them as 'Marks of Civilization'.

'Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo', by Margot Mifflin, became the first history of women's tattoo art when it was released in 1997.

In 2010, the process of tattooing was held to be a purely expressive activity protected by the First Amendment by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Image source: First Amendment to the United States Constitution

In 2010, 25% of Australians under age 30 had tattoos, showing how mainstream tattooing had become among younger generations.

Mattel released a tattooed Barbie doll in 2011, which was widely accepted, although it did attract some controversy.

Image source: Barbie

In 2012, tattooed women outnumbered men for the first time in American history – according to a Harris poll, 23% of women in America had tattoos that year, compared to 19% of men.

In 2013, Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, became the first Miss America contestant to show off tattoos during the swimsuit competition.

Image source: Theresa Vail

Author and sociology professor Beverly Yuen Thompson wrote 'Covered In Ink: Tattoos, Women, and the Politics of the Body' (published in 2015, research conducted between 2007 and 2010) on the history of tattooing and its normalization for specific gender roles in the USA.