In the same week that Democrats announce they'll hold hearings to probe why Trump's Interior Department shrank Bears Ears National Monument by 85%, the internet is abuzz with this image. Archaeologists have identified this artifact as a 2000-year-old tattooing instrument, unearthed from Bears Ears in Utah.
New findings published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports this week show that this tool, found at the ancient Native American site, is a tattoo needle fashioned from cactus spines that was created between years 137–215 CE.
The findings reveal new information about how body adornment and tattooing were practiced among indigenous people in this region. Read the rest
Someone took the awesome last words of Mars Opportunity and got a tattoo of Mars Curiosity. Twitter was not kind.
Keep it clean and out of the sun! Read the rest
Brazilian tattoo studio Menace Tattoo shared this cool design of a week-old tattoo inspired by the work of Veks Van Hillik. Watch as artist Silvia Martins opens the wings of her new tattoo: Read the rest
Of all the service industries, tattooing naturally seems like a good one for crazy client stories, but some of these doozies would make even the most jaded inkslinger raise their eyebrows. Read the rest
Tukoi is a Melbourne-based tattoo artist who specializes in fluorescent tattoos. Read the rest
Eva Krbdk of New York's Bang Bang Tattoo specializes in circular tattoos on a wide range of thought-provoking and whimsical themes. Read the rest
Georgie Williams creates cybernetic-inspired tattoos. She's currently doing bookings on the west coast, but she's soon heading out to Oceania next month. Read the rest
Belgian tattoo artist Inal Bersekov does highly-detailed work that recreates famous moments from history and movies. Read the rest
Someone should get a large tattoo that says "Don't get tattoos of living celebrities unless you have the money for a cover-up." Behold, a gallery of suddenly recontextualized ink: Read the rest
Tattoo artist: What you want?
Trucker: Combine my love of trucking and Cartesian mind-body dualism.
Tattoo artist: Say no more. Read the rest
Berlin-based artist Mo Ganji creates deceptively simple tattoos using a continuous line. Read the rest
Croc Coulter works with an apprentice to revive the lost art of tātatau, traditional tattooing done with sticks and bone. So that's how they made such straight lines in geometric tattoos! Read the rest
Archaeologist Cédric Gobeil discusses how he used modern imaging technology to find dozens of animals tattooed on the mummy of an Egyptian woman, probably a priestess of Hathor. She also had a hieroglyphic neck tattoo that is pretty creepy-looking 3,300 years later. Read the rest
Tattoo artist Clae Welch gives Casey Lubin eleven tattoos, in the styles of representative American tattoo artists from each decade in the last century. (WatchCut Video)
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Brilliant work by Lindsay Baker of NiteOwl Tattoo in Northmapton, Mass. (@lindsaybugbaker on Instagram) Read the rest
Tattooing in slow motion by GueT.(via Wired)
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This very clever Popeye tattoo has unclear provenance -- apparently the artist is Russian tattoo artist Alina Fokina from Ufa, Russia, possibly with help from Jaksic Milan.
(via Neatorama) Read the rest
