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Tattoos

This September 2021 article from The Conversation provides another overview of the history and sacred / cultural significance of tattoos.
What Ötzi the prehistoric iceman can teach us about the use of tattoos in ceremonial healing or religious rites

... This 5,300-year-old mummy is not only perhaps Europe’s most famous mummy, but also one of the most significant finds for those who study the global history of tattoos.

Ötzi was adorned with 61 tattoos that were incredibly preserved by the glacial climate.

The meaning of those tattoos has been debated ever since his discovery by the two hikers. Many of Ötzi’s tattoos were found to be lines drawn along areas such as the lower back, knees, wrists and ankles, areas where people most often experience ongoing pain as they age. Some researchers believe these tattoos to be an ancient treatment for pain. Various herbs known to have medicinal properties were found in close proximity to Ötzi’s resting place, lending further credence to this theory. ...

However, not all of Ötzi’s tattoos were on places usually affected by the wear and tear of everyday life on joints. Ötzi also sported tattoos on his chest. Theories of the purpose behind this set of tattoos, which were discovered using new imaging techniques in 2015, range from early acupuncture or ceremonial healing rituals to being part of a system of ritual or religious beliefs. ...

As a tattoo historian and scholar, I have seen how tattoos have historically been used for ceremonial healing, religious rites and to show belonging to both cultural and religious groups throughout the ancient world and leading all the way up to modern times. ...
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FULL STORY: https://theconversation.com/what-ot...-ceremonial-healing-or-religious-rites-168058
 
So that's what face masks are being used for now.
 
In an example of the tabloid for lazily plundering chat sites for stories, the Daily Mirror website has a feature lifted verbatim from Reddit about a woman who objects to another woman's new tattoo.
The ink in question forms the name of the two women's mutual newborn grandchild.

I didn't read much as it's crap :chuckle: but it made me wonder what passes for news in some households.
 
I could think of better things to do with $42,000 (if I had a vagina):

British model spends $42,000 to tattoo her private parts​

An OnlyFans model claims she has the most heavily tattooed vagina in the world after spending $42,000 to needle her privates.
A British OnlyFans star says she has the most heavily tattooed vagina in the world, with an artist needing five separate sessions to needle her labia.
Over the years, Becky Holt, 34, has spent more than $42,000 on a tattoo “bodysuit” with artworks adorning her entire frame, from her face to her feet, The NY Post reports.

The blonde made sure not to neglect her pubic region, and recently sought to have the sensitive area inked — despite an intense amount of agony it caused.
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https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/b...s/news-story/f088a7e60dfefb05f8ad733b06ade7ca
 
Georgia Tech researchers have developed microneedle patches that can yield a tattoo without the pain and / or blood-letting. The ease of using these patches suggests tattooing could be used for a wide variety of purposes, including temporary tagging.
Painless Tattoos Developed – Easy, Do-It-Yourself Microneedle Patches

Imagine getting painlessly tattooed by a skin patch containing microscopic needles, instead of sitting in a tattoo chair for hours enduring painful punctures. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have developed low-cost, painless, and bloodless tattoos that can be self-administered. They have many applications, from medical alerts to tracking neutered animals to cosmetics.

“We’ve miniaturized the needle so that it’s painless, but still effectively deposits tattoo ink in the skin,” said Mark Prausnitz, principal investigator on the paper. “This could be a way not only to make medical tattoos more accessible, but also to create new opportunities for cosmetic tattoos because of the ease of administration.” ...

Various cosmetic products using microneedles are already on the market — mostly for anti-aging. However, developing microneedle technology for tattoos is new. ...

“We saw this as an opportunity to leverage our work on microneedle technology to make tattoos more accessible,” Prausnitz said. “While some people are willing to accept the pain and time required for a tattoo, we thought others might prefer a tattoo that is simply pressed onto the skin and does not hurt.” ...

... The Georgia Tech team has developed microneedles that are smaller than a grain of sand and are constructed of tattoo ink encased in a dissolvable matrix.

“Because the microneedles are made of tattoo ink, they deposit the ink in the skin very efficiently" ...

In this way, the microneedles can be pressed into the skin just once and then dissolve. They leave the ink in the skin after a few minutes without bleeding. ...
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FULL STORY: https://scitechdaily.com/painless-tattoos-developed-easy-do-it-yourself-microneedle-patches/
 
Here are the bibliographic details and summary from the open access report on the microneedle technology. The full report is accessible at the link below.

Song Li, Youngeun Kim, Jeong Woo Lee, Mark R. Prausnitz
Microneedle patch tattoos
iScience September 14, 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.105014

Summary
Medical tattoos provide medical information, guide radiotherapy, and improve cosmetic outcomes of medical interventions. These tattoos are administered by repeated needle injection that causes pain, bleeding, and risk of infection, which limit more widespread use. Here, we developed single-use microneedle (MN) patches to deposit tattoos in the skin in a simple, rapid, painless, and bloodless way without biohazardous sharps waste. MN patch tattoos were designed with numbers, letters, symbols, environmentally responsive inks, and QR codes. Colored tattoos, and tattoos only visible with ultraviolet illumination for increased privacy, were developed and retained in the skin for at least one year. These MN patch tattoos recorded medical conditions such as diabetic medical alerts and vaccination status, responded to biophysical cues for possible physiological monitoring, and encoded complex personal health information. MN patches may increase safety and access to medical tattoos for improved fiducial marking, medical information storage, physiological monitoring, and cosmetic outcomes.

SOURCE / FULL REPORT: https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(22)01286-X
 

Ancient Egyptian women got 'tramp stamp' tattoos more than 3,000 years ago to protect them and their child during birth​


Ancient Egyptian women sported lower back tattoos, or 'tramp stamps,' more than 3,000 years before they were popularized in the late 1990s.

64452999-11417749-image-a-1_1668185926748.jpg


Researchers believe the ancient women marked their lower backs and other locations on their bodies in order to protect themselves during childbirth.

Two mummies discovered on the west bank of the Nile River were found to have ancient markings on preserved flesh on their backs, which researchers said are associated with the god Bes who was believed to protect women and children, specifically during labor.

Along with depictions of Bes, the markings included a bowl, which symbolizes a postnatal ritual, the Eye of Horus that represents protection and health and goats for good luck.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-tramp-stamp-tattoos-protect-child-labor.html

maximus otter
 
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys...

Man gets tattooed by a MONKEY: South American artist trains animal to use needle gun and lets it draw a symbol on his knee​

  • Funky Matas travelled to Mexico to get a one-of-a-kind tattoo given by a monkey
  • The Mexican monkey was trained for just two hours and paid in snacks
A South American artist trained a monkey to use a needle gun and let it draw a permanent tattoo on his knee.

Social media influencer Funky Matas trained the animal for just two hours before he let the novice artist give him a one-of-a-kind, yet permanent, tattoo.

The viral video showed the monkey wasn't keen to work for free and so held off showing his artistic flare until two animal trainers coughed up his payment in snacks.

The new tattoo apprentice didn't hold back on the design with the new symbol covering a large area of Funky's knee.

The eager student was recruited randomly by Funky who flew to Mexico, found a man with pet monkeys and a tattoo shop owner crazy enough to let the animal work its magic on the influencer.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...key-use-needle-gun-lets-draw-symbol-knee.html
 
An old Alpha & Omega tattoo.

'Christ' tattoo discovered on 1,300-year-old body in Sudan
​

A tattoo referencing Christ was found on the 1,300-year-old body of an individual in what is now Sudan.

We see three images: At left, a digital photo of the tattoo, middle an enhanced image and right a black digital image.

Photos and a digital illustration of the tattoos of the Chi-Rho and Greek letters alpha and omega found on the body at Ghazali. (Image credit: Kari A. Guilbault)

Scientists in Sudan have discovered a tattoo with references to Jesus Christ on a 1,300-year-old body excavated in a cemetery near a medieval monastery.

It is only the second time that a tattoo has been found from medieval Nubia, the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology (PCMA) at the University of Warsaw, whose members are conducting excavation and research at the site, known as Ghazali, said in a statement. Nubia is a region that encompasses parts of modern-day Egypt and Sudan.

Found on the right foot of an individual, who is likely a man, the tattoo has what scholars call the "Chi-Rho" symbol, along with the Greek letters alpha and omega, the statement said.

The Chi-Rho symbol combines the Greek letters "chi" and "rho" to form an abbreviation for Christ, the statement said, noting that this abbreviation debuted around A.D. 324, when Constantine became emperor of the Roman Empire. The letters alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and represent the Christian belief that God is the beginning and end of everything, the statement said.

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/christ-tattoo-discovered-on-1300-year-old-body-in-sudan
 

In Ecuador, animal tattoos take on dangerous gang stigma​

In gang-ridden Ecuador, people who sport popular animal tattoos such as tigers or eagles are increasingly forced to hide their ink as such symbols have become usurped by criminal groups.

The small country's descent into deadly drug violence has come at the hands of groups such as Los Lobos (The Wolves), Las Aguilas (The Eagles), Los Tiguerones, whose brand is the tiger, and the powerful Los Choneros, who identify with the lion.

Images of these animals are graffitied on prisons and neighborhoods where the gangs dominate, and inked onto the bodies of their members.

https://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-animal-tattoos-dangerous-gang-012418352.html

maximus otter
 
Frideswide said:
I'd be up for that IF I could satisfy myself about the animal's welfare and the health and hygene.
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It's never going to be ethical. Monkeys are wild animals and should be free to climb about in trees eating fruit and swinging from vines. Possibly pelting intruders with dung, I dunno.

Even a cruelly orphaned baby monkey can be carefully hand-reared and then released into the wild or at least cared for in a managed environment like a sanctuary.

The tattooing monkey was being kept as a pet, poor thing.
 
Frideswide said:
precisely! :twothumbs:
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Yup, as a kid I heard of people keeping pet monkeys and would imagine the monkeys being allowed to roam around the home, as pet cats and dogs do. Maybe there'd be little wall-mounted climbing frames and shelves for them to enjoy. Like the fittings you'd see in birdcages, but spread around the house, how charming. :)

Instead the monkeys were forlorn little things that huddled in the corners of metal cages. :(
 
My new ruler tattoo has wide exposure at work as I like to keep my arms bare.

Spent much of yesterday fielding ribaldry concerning exactly what I intend to measure with it.
These people. :rolleyes:

I have taught them well. :bthumbup:
 
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