similarities in tattooing culture existed across certain cultural areas, and there were also forms of tattooing (e.g., “guardian” tattoos, medicinal tattoos, etc.) that were employed across several culture regions.
Tattoo Traditions of Native North America Today, many of the former symbolic associations and meanings of Native North American tattoo are simply irretrievable. That is because this knowledge was not recorded in the past and subsequently has been lost. However, this book pieces together the extant sources of historical evidence for Native North American tattooing through a survey of published and unpublished accounts, prehistoric and historic artifacts, portrait art, and oral histories. I utilize the works of explorers, missionaries, historians, ethnologists, Native North Americans, and anthropologists, and also draw upon my own field research with contemporary Indigenous tattoo bearers living in the United States, Canada, and Nunavut. My goal in this work is to retrieve the available sources of Native North American tattoo tradition in order to uncover the multiple – and sometimes related – meanings that tattoos have carried over the millennia, while also recognizing the significance of this cultural practice that has remained a largely forgotten subject of study for far too long. Moreover, I want to acknowledge the artistic achievements of Indigenous tattooists who for thousands of years plied human skin with natural tools and lasting designs. It is my hope that this book will promote a greater understanding of these remarkable (and largely anonymous) individuals through raising awareness of their epidermic talents. 10 | Haida tattoo marks: raven, Tchimose, and bear. The Tchimose is a fabulous animal supposed to drift about in the ocean like a log of wood and believed to be very destructive to canoes or individuals who may fall into its clutches. The hat shown in the drawing indicates that the creature belongs to the more powerful class of mythological beings inhabiting the Haida world. After Swan (1874: pl. 6).
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11 | Facial tattooing of a ’Nlaka’pamux man and Okanagan woman, ca. 1880. The chin markings were called “eagle’s tail” and the vertical lines on the woman’s face “rain coming from the sky.” After Teit (1930a:410, fig. 41).