How Piercings Came To Be

How Piercings Came To Be


The art of body piercing has been practiced by people all over the world since ancient times. Mummified bodies with piercings have been discovered, including the oldest mummified body discovered to date, the body is over 5300 years old, & is that of Otzi the Iceman, which was found in an Austrian glacier. Otzi had an ear piercing 7-12mm in diameter, as well as tattoos.

Lip & tongue piercings have been historically found in African & American tribal cultures.

Nipple & genital piercings, date back to Ancient Rome & Ancient India.

The ancient Romans strongly beleived in the art of piercing, they used piercings to show strength, & virility. In the Roman culture, piercings were often wore as badges of honor, genital piercings were also common among gladiators.

The Egyptians adorned themselves with piercings, certain types of piercings were restricted & only the royalty, was allowed to have them. Only the pharoh was allowed to have hs navel pierced,anyone else who tried this, could have been executed.
Almost all egyptians wore earrings to display their wealth & for aesthetic reasons.

When French fur trappers first discovered American Indian tribes, they named them the "Nez Perce", which means "pierced noses" in French.

Ancient tribes wore bones through their nostrils to create fear, when going to war, this is where septum piercings originated.

Lip Labaret piercings are said to have originated in Central & South America, where they became popular for purely aesthetic reasons. Lip plates were often used. The Aztecs & Mayans had labrets of gold and jade.

Civilizations & cultures that were seperated by extremely vast distances, came to experience a love for piercings, it's a small world right?

The Most Popular Forms of Piercings

The most widespread forms of piercings are/have been nose & ear piercings, these are more historically documented & have been found among more grave goods then any other type of piercing.

What Piercings Represented/Represent

Piercings in the past represented religious views, social status, marriage, rebellion, spirtitual cleansing, fear, sexual pleasure & more.

Piercings today are still used in similar ways, gangs have used piercings to symbloize rank, & sub cultures have been created based around aesthetics & whether one has piercings or not.

The Prince Albert Piercing

There are a variety of theories pertaining to the origin of the Prince Albert piercing, but the true origin is not known.
Historical Evidence suggests that the Prince Albert piercing first started to be undertaken by men in European countries beginning in the 1800s, most people beleive this piercing wasn't created for a cultural or sexual purpose but for a more pratical one, which is unknown. There is no evidence to suggest that Prince Albert actually had one of these piercings, but it is a popular myth that people began undertaking Prince Albert piercings because Prince Albert supposedly has this piercing

Piercings in The Bible

Body piercings are mentioned in the bible, body jewerly was considered to be a show of beauty & wealth & often given as marriage gifts or as part of a dowry.

Interest in Body Piercings

Interest in the art of body piercing died down during the Dark Ages, when the church began to condemn the art of piercing, accusing it of being sinful.(This explains why some who may consider themselves religious still condemn the art of body piercings to this day)

The most recent rise in the popularity of piercings was during the 60s, when it became popular for all women to get their ears pierced once more.

This concludes how piercings came to be for now, & I may revise this a few more times as time passes on.

Thanks for reading.