Tattoos and Indigenous Peoples

Book excerpt: This engrossing story reviews the nature of indigenous and tribal peoples and their uses of tattoos. Readers learn about the earliest known tattoos and their meanings, and the explorers and conquistadors who encountered the indigenous people who used them. The tattoo traditions of Japan, India, the Arctic, the Americas, Polynesia and Oceania are also examined. The book includes an overview of the anthropologists who studied tattoo meanings and symbols, which can have different meanings in different places of the world. The book closes with a discussion of how tattoos can now be seen as a revival or a fashion choice among modern people who can choose their style and identity more freely than could early indigenous peoples.