Tattoos or tattoo, derived from the Tahitian "wounded" means a sign that it seems. Although the evidence is not the history of tattoos to be-so many, but experts infer that the art of tattoo has been there since 12,000 years before Christ.

Dutu, tattoos became a kind of ritual for the ancient tribes such as the Maori, Inca, Ainu, Polynesians, and others. If you walk to Egypt, trying to play to the pyramid, perhaps you can find the oldest tattoos there. Because according to history, the people of Egypt so that higher growth of the tattoo in the world. Egypt, a nation known as a strong nation that is famous, they do expand to other countries, so that the art of tattoo is also involved wide-spread follow-up, to areas such as Greek, Persian, and Arabic.

What is the reason for the tribes in the ancient world to create tattoos? The ancient Greek nation tattoos as identification of members of their intetijen aka detective at the time of war. Here the tattoos indicate the rank of detective is. Unlike the Roman nation, they wear tattoos as a sign that someone is coming from the slave. Maori tribe in New Zealand make a tattoo shaped carvings on the spiral-carved face and buttocks.

According to them, this is the mark of a good offspring. In the Solomon Islands, made tattoo on the face of women as ritus to mark a new stage in their lives. Almost the same as in the lining, the Nuer tribe in the Sudan using tattoos to mark the initiation ritus children taki-taki. Those Indian body painting and sculpture for them to add beauty or show a certain social status.

Tattoos or tattoo wen Shen of China began around 2000 BC. Wen Shen perhaps meaning "body acupuncture." Pertu known, the same as the Roman nation, the ancient Chinese use tattoos to indicate that someone had in jale. Meanwhile, in China itself, there is a tattoo culture in some ethnic minority, which tetah inherited oteh their fathers, such as ethnic Drung, Dai, and Li, but only the women who came from Drung ethnic Li and habits that have menato face. Historical customs Drung ethnic tattoos appear around the end of this period of Ming Dynasty (around 350 years talu), when they are attacked by a group of other ethnic groups and at the time they nab some women from ethnic Drung to serve as slaves. In order to avoid the occurrence of rape, the women are then made tattoo in their face to make them look less attractive in the eyes of the kidnapper.

Although now the women's Drung ethnic minorities is no longer in a state of threatened oteh attack from other ethnic minorities, but they still continue to maintain these customs as a symbol of the strength of manhood. The girls from ethnic minorities face when Drung menato people aged between 12 and 13 years as a symbol of mature. There are several different explanations of why women are menato face. Some people say, that people assume Drung ethnic women look more beautiful and the Adam Drung ethnic akan not marry a woman who does not have a tattoo on his face.

In Indonesia, people in the Mentawai Islands Mentawai, Dayak tribe in Kalimantan, and Sumba tribes in NTB, the tattoo has been since the era of old-fashioned. Even for the Dayak tribe, someone who has "decapitate" their enemy, get a tattoo on her hand. So also with the Mentawai tribe, their tattoo not made recklessly. Before making tattoos performed, there is harvest enegaf aka initiation ceremony conducted in puturkaf uma (house gallery traditional Mentawai tribe). The ceremony is led by sikerei (shaman). After the ceremony is finished, barutah process the tattoo implemented.