During his voyage to Tahiti, Captain James Cook encountered heavily tattooed men and women. The word ‘tatu’ meaning to mark something and the tattoos the captain and his crew got cemented our use of the word. The term derived from the specific method of inscription where sharp needle-like instruments were tapped onto the skin to penetrate the dye under the surface skin layers. However Tahiti is not the only evidence of ancient tattooing tradition. The history of tattooing can be dated back at least eight thousand years ago as evidenced by the mummified bodies found with markings. The earliest evidence of tattoo was discovered in 1991 with the natural mummified body of Ötzi the Ice Man, the name given to him by scientists. Believed to have died
