Stone and Bone: Discovering the World’s Oldest Tattooing Tools

Long before the invention of electric tattooing, skilled practitioners from cultures around the globe used a wide variety of tools and techniques to permanently mark the skin. Through decades of research archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf and colleagues have identified thousands of historical tattooing tools in European and North American museums and collections. That research includes projects working with professional tattooers to recreate and use stone and bone tools to better understand the archaeological evidence for tattooing. This presentation describes global patterns in the tools and methods of pre-electric tattooing, and how experimental studies have helped identify some of the world’s oldest tattooing artifacts.

by: Aaron Deter-Wolf
Slot 11 : Sat. 11am-12:30pm