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INKEDblog takes you beneath the skin of today's tattoo culture. Our mission is to celebrate tattooing as a modern art form which incorporates art, fashion, style, and pop culture. While paying homage and respect to the past, we look to present a contemporary take on the present and future of skin art.
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Friday Jul 22, 2005
The World's Oldest Tattoo
Oetzi the Iceman is the proud owner of the world’s oldest tattoos. About 5300 years old, and discovered in 1991, he sports 57 of them, consisting of parallel and intersecting lines. There’s been enormous speculation as to the purpose of his tats: that they denote social status, that they served a ritual purpose, identified a tribal affiliation, or that he just plain liked the way they looked.
One of the most commonly accepted and compelling theories, however, is that their purpose was largely medicinal. Many of the tattoos are over arthritic joints, which suggests that the earliest tattoos were also a form of prehistoric acupuncture. Acupuncturists and archaeologists have noted that many of Oetzi’s tattoos correspond almost perfectly with acupuncture points still used today.
You can learn more about Oetzi's tattoos here.
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