It seems that motorcycles and tattoos go together like, bread and butter. Don’t they? Funny though, most of the people I know and met through riding, don’t have tattoos. Although I do have one friend who is quite beautifully illustrated. (Interesting, maybe I could get a grant from the government to study this phenomenon?) But, believe it or not, motorcycles and tattoos are not mutually exclusive. The tattoo is an artform that predates the motorcycle by, oh say roughly 30,000 years. (For some motorcycle history see my posts here and here)
Giolo, the “Painted Prince”, 1692 image credit
To most people, historically tattoos appear to be the domain of the warrior. Tough and fearless he would adorn his body with the marks of courage and honor and to intimidate his opponent. Tools used for tattooing have been dug up at a few Palaeolithic sites across Europe. A small figure with several parallel lines across his arm was carbon dated to 32,000 years but it not entirely clear what purpose these tattoos served. In 1991 a body emerged from a glacier that dated back to the bronze age. Over 5000 years old, his skin bore the markings of fifty-seven separate tattoos. Among them, a cross and several different sets of lines, positioned at key places on the body. Even though this man appeared to be a warrior his humble tattoos were used more to ward off disease than as a display of bravery.
Female tattooing, was common amongst many cultures around the world. In Africa, 3000 year old Nubian female mummies were found with blue markings that were believed to ward off disease and sickness during pregnancy and child birth. Interestingly, in Egypt at that time, tattoos were exclusively used by women. Possibly because tattoos were so closely associated with something so feminine as childbirth. In other parts of the world though, tattoos were used to identify clans and tribes and as marks of courage, status, honor and respect. Noble men and women in tribes like the Picts, Celts and Scots were adorned with sacred markings. Herodotus wrote, in about 450 B.C., that amongst the ancient Greeks “tattoos were a mark of nobility, and not to have them was testimony of low birth.”. Still in other parts of the world, views were, that only criminals were tattooed. In China during the 7th century tattoos on criminals was a form of punishment and in 17th century Japan, tattooing was outlawed as it was viewed as “deleterious to public morals”.
Intricate body tattoo patterns of an Ontong Java woman, ca. 1880. Image credit
Skip ahead a couple of hundred years or so and tattooing becomes a tradition in the British Navy after Captain Cook returned from his voyages to Polynesia. The tattoos of Polynesian warriors and their women were depicted in drawings and etchings (and on the bodies of the sailors) that spread all over Europe. Over time the lore and artform of the tattoo evolved. Sailors of all races, confined to ships for long periods of time, etched the stories of travels on their own skin and that of their comrades. It even became a fad among early 19th century British aristocracy. In 1862 the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII, had a Jerusalem Cross tattooed on his arm. Traditionally the pigments for the Jerusalem cross were mixed with gunpowder, which was thought to have magical qualities of protection. During the latter 19th and into the 20th century tattoos became a curiosity. They adorned circus performers but also returned as a badge of rebellion or criminality or both, as prisoners and gangs, motorcycle or otherwise, embraced the artform. The tattoo began to sneak back into “civilized society” though. Tattoos to commemorated courage, honor and respect were seen on modern warriors, troops returning home from war. Now at the dawn of the 21st century the tattoo has come full circle. The humble tattoo raised from rudimentary marks in the skin to ward off disease has evolved into works created by highly skilled artists and displayed on anyone from modern day warriors to soccer moms. ”Getting inked” is beginning to be viewed more as an homage to, among other things, our culture and our past than an act of disobedience. Is it possible that as humans learn more about their collective past, subconsciously, they search for a way to connect back to it? For any number of reasons, as commemoration, memorium or just for beauty’s sake, the tattoo is an artform 32,000 years in the making.
Coca Cola Advertisement, Life Magazine, 1944
For more on the history of tattoos try here –> Tattoo history and here –> Tattoos and Archaeology
Oh and by the way…We’re Baaack!! Welcome to the new and improved Mostly by Motorcycle website. I am sure there will be a few more changes along the way. Let us know what you think.
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