- Early explorers and missionaries frequently encountered heavily tattooed native peoples in the Americas. The Algonquin and Huron were only two of the many tribes that practiced tattooing.
- Tattoos were used as markings to differentiate tribes or to further empower a member of the tribe. A person with a tattoo may have been given particular stature among the group. Tattoos of animals were common.
- Native Americans used needles made from bones, often those of fish or birds, and natural pigments for ink to create their tattoos. Many times, the tattoo consisted of cutting the flesh and then rubbing charcoal or other dark dyes into the cuts.
- The tattooing process was rather barbaric and not very sanitary, resulting in infections and, sometimes, death. Francois-J. Bressani, a 17th century Jesuit missionary, described the dangers of tattooing: "Many have died after the operation, either as the result of a kind of spasm which it produces, or for other reasons."
- While many male Native Americans bore tattoos on their face and bodies, six mummified Inuit women found in Greenland were also extensively tattooed, proving the ancient practice was not limited to men.
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