08-20-2009, 09:09 AM
Regarding 'Celtic' Tattoing I’m not certain what medium was applied by the Ancient Britons, or if in truth the markings described are semi-permanent or permanent adornment. Later Roman sources give a description of tattoo techniques. ‘The oldest known description of tattoo techniques together with a formula for tattoo ink, is found in Medicae artis principes by the sixth century Roman physician, Aetius. He writes:
Stigmates are the marks that are made on the face and other parts of the body. We see such marks on the hands of soldiers. To perform the operation they use ink made according to this formula:
Egyptian pine wood (acacia) and especially the bark, one pound; corroded bronze, two ounces; gall, two ounces; vitriol, one ounce. Mix well and sift.
Grind the corroded bronze with vinegar and mix it with the other ingredients to make a powder. Soak the powder in two parts of water and one part of leek juice and mix thoroughly.
First wash the place to be tattooed with leek juice and then prick in the design with pointed needles until blood is drawn. Then rub in the ink’
Suffice to say that tattooing was well known in the Ancient World and Early Medieval Period at various times by various cultures. These could be quite complex as these images of as some ‘mummies’ from high status Altaic ‘Scythian’ burials indicate.
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_m ... ttoos.html
I have an old poster from a local museum exhibit concerning the chariot burials in Yorkshire, and the poster has a wonderful painting of a Parisi couple, the male having beautiful tattoos in the insular British La Tene style. I like to thing that this is how the tribes described by Caesar would have looked, and not the modern style of ‘Tribal Tattoos” with later ribbon interlace and knotwork often described as ‘Celtic’.
Dave Huggins
Ingvar Sigurdson
Stigmates are the marks that are made on the face and other parts of the body. We see such marks on the hands of soldiers. To perform the operation they use ink made according to this formula:
Egyptian pine wood (acacia) and especially the bark, one pound; corroded bronze, two ounces; gall, two ounces; vitriol, one ounce. Mix well and sift.
Grind the corroded bronze with vinegar and mix it with the other ingredients to make a powder. Soak the powder in two parts of water and one part of leek juice and mix thoroughly.
First wash the place to be tattooed with leek juice and then prick in the design with pointed needles until blood is drawn. Then rub in the ink’
Suffice to say that tattooing was well known in the Ancient World and Early Medieval Period at various times by various cultures. These could be quite complex as these images of as some ‘mummies’ from high status Altaic ‘Scythian’ burials indicate.
http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_m ... ttoos.html
I have an old poster from a local museum exhibit concerning the chariot burials in Yorkshire, and the poster has a wonderful painting of a Parisi couple, the male having beautiful tattoos in the insular British La Tene style. I like to thing that this is how the tribes described by Caesar would have looked, and not the modern style of ‘Tribal Tattoos” with later ribbon interlace and knotwork often described as ‘Celtic’.
Dave Huggins
Ingvar Sigurdson
Ingvar Sigurdson
Dave Huggins
Wulfheodenas
Dave Huggins
Wulfheodenas
