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Tattoo Anthropologist

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June 22, 2013

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Previous article MANY STITCHES FOR LIFE: THE ANTIQUITY OF THREAD & NEEDLE TATTOOING

larskrutak
Wanna learn more about ancient Pre-Columbian tatto Wanna learn more about ancient Pre-Columbian tattoos of South America? I just posted an article on my website. https://www.larskrutak.com/pre-columbian-tattoos-of-western-south-america/ #mummytattoo #tattoohistory #tattooarchaeology #indigenoustattoo #mummy #mummies #precolumbian #precolumbianart #peru #perú #chimú #moche #inked #momia #momias #tatuajes #sudamerica #medicinaltattoo #medicine #genipapo #jagua #huito #tiwanaku
Makonde myth praises the deeds, knowledge, and sup Makonde myth praises the deeds, knowledge, and superior physical attributes of the tattooed ancestors of the past. ȸ Makonde tattoos were considered regional indicators and each tribe preferred specific motifs laid down in a variety of set patterns. The face and other parts of the body contained chevrons, angles, zigzag and straight lines with an occasional circle, diamond, dot, or animal figure. Today these patterns have remained largely intact, but they only appear on men and women over seventy years of age. Sadly, the Makonde tattoo artists of the Mueda plateau stopped inking their clients in the early 1960s, and today only a handful of elderly tattoo masters remain. ȸ The general Makonde term for tattoo is dinembo ("design," "decoration") and the process usually required one to three sessions with the mpundi wa dinembo ("tattoo design artist") to produce the desired result. If a client’s skin was light, one meeting with the tattooist was usually enough, but those clients with darker complexions paid their tattoo masters several visits. Some boys and girls with darker complexions lost their courage if they had to be tattooed a second or third time and they never completed their tattooing. Those who ran away were ridiculed and even threatened by the woman who acted as their "godmother" during the dinembo rite. One Makonde woman told me that “men would not be interested in a woman without her markings, and it was obligatory to get the tattoos for this reason or else you could not be married.” ȸ Makonde tattooing was a form of skin-cut tattooing. After the cuts were made with a knife-like tattoo implement (chipopo), vegetable carbon from the castor bean plant was rubbed into the cuts producing a dark blue color. The tattoos were washed with water, and oil prepared from castor beans was applied with a feather for healing. ȸ Tattoo clients usually paid a nominal fee and were held down in a spread-eagle fashion by relatives. When the painful facial tattoos were cut, the client was sometimes buried up to their neck in the earth so they would not flinch or run away! #mozambique #africatattoo #africa #scar #tattooed #earth #inked #pain #tattoo
I’m with her... @cecco_tattoo I’m with her... @cecco_tattoo
Hilarious! Mille grazie @cecco_tattoo Hilarious! Mille grazie @cecco_tattoo
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