TRIBAL TATTOOS & DESIGNS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Tribal Tattoos Worldwide looks at the traditional tribal tattoo practices of indigenous and aboriginal peoples around the world and is a celebration of the amazing cultural diversity of tribal tattoo culture. We welcome article and story submissions to be added to our Tribal Tattoo pages. Check out some of these great in depth tribal tattoo articles by our very own tattoo expert Lars Krutak.

Tribal Tattooing in California and the American Southwest
Tattooed Tribes of the Amazon
Tattoos of Sub-Saharan Africa
Tattooing in North Africa, The Middle East and Balkans
Embodied Symbols of the South Seas: Eastern Oceania
Tattoos of Indochina: Supernatural Mysteries of the Flesh
Wen Shen: The Vanishing Art of Chinese Tribal Culture
India: Land of Eternal Ink
The Kalinga Batok (Tattoo) Festival
The Art of Magical Tattoos
North America's Tattooed Indian Kings
Tribal tattoos of Papua New Guinea
Sacred skin - Tattoos of Easter Island
Tribal Tattoos of Mozambique's Makonde
At The Tail of the Dragon: The Vanishing Tattoos of China's Li People
The Oldest Tattoo Shop in Greece
Return of the Headhunters: The Philippine Tattoo Revival
Torches for the Afterlife: Women Tattoo Artists of Northern Borneo
Borneo's Tattooed Women 'Warriors' - Weavers of the Skrang Iban
Torches for the Afterlife: Women Tattoo Artists of Northern Borneo
Vladimir Smith - Dermografo (Skin Artist) de Tepic, Mexico
The Mundurucú: Tattooed Warriors of the Amazon Jungle
Crest Tattoos of the Tlingit and Haida of the Northwest Coast
Tattooing Among Japan's Ainu People

TRIBAL TATTOO HISTORY
Tattoos have passed through the mists of time... tattoos are seen in all corners of the world... tattoos that have deep cultural or religious meaning. Check out this collection of tattoo design pictures for a look at some amazing, early examples of 'real' tribal tattoo work -- images from around the globe and tribal designs drawn down through history.

TRIBAL TATTOO DESIGN HISTORY - A TIMELINE...

2000BC
Egypt
High Priestess

50BC
Central Asia
Scythian Chief
 

400AD
Great Britain
Pict couple

1800AD
Egypt
Coptic tattoos

1800AD
Burma
Tattoo designs

1800AD
New Zealand
Maori tattoos
 

1815AD
Hawaii
Royal tattoos

1850AD
Egypt
Female tattoos

1850AD
Laos-Burma
Trouser tattoos

1880AD
North Africa
Moroccan woman

1880AD
Philippines
Mindanao designs

1885AD
Queen Charlottes
Haida tattoos

Pictures & text are from the book "Tribal Tattoo Designs" by Maarten Hesselt van Dinter, Pepin Press.

Maarten has a collection of 2000 drawings, pictures and more than 1000 books and articles on cultural anthropology and tattooing. So far he has found more than 110 cultures that one time or another practiced tattooing.  Pictures and text used with kind permission.