![]() ![]() Tattoos in Samoan culture were most often associated with men however, “ women too endured tattooing, but their patterns were typically smaller” (PBS). While tattoos do not date back quite as far in Samoan culture as they do in Egyptian culture, tattooing was a long standing tradition that represented an individual’s rank within the tribe. The symbolic value of the tattoo in ancient Egypt differs drastically from Samoan culture and more parallely resembles ancient Japanese culture. ![]() It is believed that older Egyptian women would pass this tradition of tattooing down to the younger counterparts. This is supported by the pattern of distribution, largely around the abdomen, o n top of the thighs and the breasts” (Lineberry). Tattooing was used “during the very difficult time of pregnancy and birth. Archeological studies have shown that ancient Egyptian tattooing was primarily a practice reserved for women. In Egyptian times, “ the distribution of the tattooed dots and small crosses on the lower spine and right knee and ankle joints correspond to areas of strain-induced degeneration, with the suggestion that they may have been applied to alleviate joint pain and were therefore essentially therapeutic” (Lineberry). Due to such discoveries, the certainty of when tattoos first originated has become rather unclear. Although tattoos were originally thought to have dated back to around 2,000 B.C to ancient Egyptian times, recent archaeological discoveries have carbon-dated tattoos to be approximately 5,200 years old. ![]()
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