What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean?

What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean

What does the tattoo on Agnes Hailstone’s chin mean? – According to a report published in Find Any Answer, Anges Hailstornes’ tattoo on the chin was given to her when she hit puberty. The tattoo was a sign of maturity and signified that she is hard working.

Why do Eskimo tattoo their chin?

Article © 2000 Lars Krutak INSET: Siberian Yupik woman stitching the skin at Indian Point, Chukotka, 1901. [ READER’S NOTE : The word “Eskimo” is used in this essay because it continues to be widely used in contemporary ethnological and linguistic literature focusing on Native Alaskan peoples inhabiting the coast and adjacent interior.

In Alaska, the term is not considered to be as strongly tabooed as among the Canadian Inuit. In fact, “Eskimo” is sometimes used by certain Native Alaskans to describe themselves today, albeit with a hint of amusement or sarcasm.

Of course, the autonyms Yupiit (“real people”) and Inupiat (“real people”) replace “Eskimo” in many regions of Arctic Alaska today. Thus, I simply use the term Eskimo here as a matter of convenience to help group together various northern peoples who share similarities in environment, subsistence, culture and language.

For more information on the etymology of the word “Eskimo,” please see Krutak (2014: 16-17, 218). ] _______ STANDING SENTINEL IN THE FROZEN WATERS of Bering Sea, St. Lawrence Island fosters a complex of remarkable tattooing traditions spanning 2000 years.

Ancient maritime peoples from Asia first colonized this windswept outpost lured by vast herds of ivory-bearing walrus and other sea-mammals. Bringing with them new advances in hunting technology and material culture, the Old Bering Sea/Okvik and Punuk peoples quickly adapted to their insular environment.

  • As the forces of nature were quite often difficult to master, they developed an intricate religion centered on animism;
  • Appeasing their gods through sacrifice and ritual, these mariners attempted to harness their forbidding world by satisfying the spiritual entities that controlled it;

Not surprisingly, tattooing became a powerful tool in these efforts: for at once the pigment was laid upon the skin, the indelible mark served as both protective shield and sacrifice to the supernatural. In the last century, however, tattoo on St. Lawrence Island, and more generally the Arctic, has been a dying, if not already dead, traditional practice.

  1. Disruptions to native society as a result of disease, missionization, and modernity paved the way for a relinquishing of ancient customs;
  2. For example, fewer than ten St;
  3. Lawrence Yupiget retain traditional tattoos: all date from the 1920’s;

Alice Yavaseuk (age 96) was the last living tattoo artist and designer. However, she passed away unexpectedly in the fall of 2002. Thus, any student of tattooing must work with tidbits of information to unravel the vast complexities of a fast disappearing “magical art.

  1. ” This essay focuses upon a comparative analysis of tattooing practices among the St;
  2. Lawrence Island Yupiget, the Inuit peoples of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and tattooed mummies from Europe and Asia;
  3. While often dismissed as a somewhat “mystical” and “incomprehensible” aesthetic, Arctic tattoo was a lived symbol of common participation in the cyclical and subsistence culture of the arctic hunter-gatherer;

Tattoo recorded the “biographies” of personhood, reflecting individual and social experience through an array of significant relationships that oscillated between the poles of masculine and feminine, human and animal, sickness and health, the living and the dead. 3,500-year-old ivory maskette from the Dorset culture representing the oldest known human portrait from the Arctic. Tattoos cover the face of the woman. Tattooed Eskimo woman from the Bering Strait region, ca. 1910. Postcard from the collection of the author. At Point Hope, Alaska ( Tikigaq ) a girl’s first tattoos were received after her first menstruation. And old woman ( aana ) drew a sinew thread soaked with lampblack (soot) through the eye of a needle. She then tattooed the girl’s chin with three vertical lines, because it is said that “[t]attoos and sexual bleeding tie her to the [celestial] sister.

Arguably, tattoos provided a nexus between the individual and communally defined forces that shaped Inuit and Yupiget perceptions of existence. Tattooing is soot smears, fire-sparks, speckles, the sun’s streaking” (Lowenstein 1993: 70), and perhaps through such associations it symbolically transformed the initiate into a woman through a ritual process of “cooking” the flesh (cf.

Saladin D’Anglure 1993: 29) HISTORY OF TATTOOING IN THE ARCTIC Archaeological evidence in the form of a carved human figurine demonstrates that tattooing was practiced as early as 3,500 years ago in the Arctic. Moreover, the remains of several mummies discovered in Bering Strait and Greenland indicate that tattooing was an element basic to ancient traditions (Krutak 1999).

This is corroborated in mythology since the origin of tattooing is symbolically associated with the creation of the sun and moon. The naturalist Lucien M. Turner (1887: n. [1894: 102]), speaking of the Fort-Chimo Inuit of Quebec, wrote: The sun is supposed to be a woman.

The moon is a man and the brother of the woman who is the sun. She was accustomed to lie on her bed in the house [of her parents] and was finally visited during the night by a man whom she could never discover the identity. She determined to ascertain who it was and in order to do so blackened her nipples with a mixture of oil and lampblack [tattoo pigments].

  1. She was visited again and when the man applied his lips to her breast they became black;
  2. The next morning she discovered to her horror that her own brother had the mark on his lips;
  3. Her emoternation knew no bounds and her parents discovered her agitation and made her reveal the cause;

The parents were so indignant that they upbraided them and the girl in her shame fled from the village at night. As she ran past the fire she seized an ember and fled beyond the earth. Her brother pursued her and so the sparks fell from the torch [and] they became the stars in the sky.

The brother pursued her but is able to overtake her except on rare occasions. These occasions are eclipses. When the moon wanes from sight the brother is supposed to be hiding for the approach of his sister.

TATTOOS & SYMBOLIC PIGMENTS Ethnographically tattooing was practiced by all Eskimos and was most common among women (Krutak 1998, 2000b). While there are a multitude of localized references to tattooing practices in the Arctic, the first was probably recorded by Sir Martin Frobisher in 1576.

Frobisher’s (1867 [1578]: 621, 628) account describes the Eskimos he encountered in the bay that now bears his name: The women are marked on the face with blewe streekes down the cheekes and round about the eies.

Also, some of their women race [scratch or pierce] their faces proportionally, as chinne, cheekes, and forehead, and the wristes of their hands, whereupon they lay a colour, which continueth dark azurine. These Canadian Inuit were kidnapped by French sailors in 1566. (Notice the tattoos that appear on the woman’s face. ) This woodblock print is the oldest known European depiction of Eskimos drawn from life. After Taylor (1984: 510). Tattooed Inuit women from Baffin Island region. After Boas (1901-07: 108). As a general rule, expert tattoo artists were respected elderly women. Their extensive training as skin seamstresses (parkas, pants, boots, hide boat covers, etc. ) facilitated the need for precision when “stitching the human skin” with tattoos.

  • Tattoo designs were usually made freehand but in some instances a rough outline was first sketched upon the area of application;
  • A typical 19th century account provided by William Gilder (1881: 250) illustrates the tattooing process among the Central Eskimo living near Daly Bay, a branch of Canada’s Hudson Bay: The wife has her face tattooed with lamp-black and is regarded as a matron in society;

The method of tattooing is to pass a needle under the skin, and as soon as it is withdrawn its course is followed by a thin piece of pine stick dipped in oil and rubbed in the soot from the bottom of a kettle. The forehead is decorated with a letter V in double lines, the angle very acute, passing down between the eyes almost to the bridge of the nose, and sloping gracefully to the right and left before reaching the roots of the hair.

Each cheek is adorned with an egg-shaped pattern, commencing near the wing of the nose and sloping upward toward the corner of the eye; these lines are also double. The most ornamented part, however, is the chin, which receives a gridiron pattern; the lines double from the edge of the lower lip, and reaching to the throat toward the corners of the mouth, sloping outward to the angle of the lower jaw.

This is all that is required by custom, but some of the belles do not stop here. Their hands, arms, legs, feet, and in fact their whole bodies are covered with blue tracery that would throw Captain Constantinus completely in the shade. Around Bering Strait, the tattooing method reveals continuity in application, as observed by Gilder, yet the pigments employed were more varied.

On St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, tattoo designs were usually made freehand but in some cases a rough outline was first sketched upon the area of application. In 1926, the University of Alaska archaeologist Otto W.

Geist (1927-34: n. ) noted: Tattoo marks on arms and hands are drawn from life. Some of the St. Lawrence Island women and girls have beautifully executed tattoo marks. The pigment is made from the soot of seal oil lamps which is taken from the bottom of tea kettles or similar containers used to boil meat and other food over an open flame.

The soot is mixed with urine, often that of an old woman, and is applied with steel needles. One method is to draw a string of sinew or other thread through the eye of the needle. The thread is then soaked thoroughly in the liquid pigment and drawn through the skin as the needle is inserted and pushed just under the skin for a distance of about a thirty-second of an inch when the point is again pierced through the skin.

A small space is left without tattooing before the process is again repeated. The other method is to prick the skin with the needle which is dipped in the pigment each time. St. Lawrence Island joint-tattooing, ca. 1900. Sketch by Mark Planisek. Tattooing an individual in the traditional manner required extensive knowledge of animal products, pigments, and natural substances suitable for indelible marking (Krutak 1998: 22-27). Lampblack was the primary pigment used to darken the sinew thread because it was believed to be highly efficacious against “spirits”  (Bogoras 1904-09:298).

  • However, fine dark graphite ( tagneghli ) was also used;
  • Tagneghli   was a magical substance obtained through barter from the Siberians, and it was considered to be the “stone spirit” which “guards” humankind from evil spirits and from the sicknesses brought by them (Hughes 1959: 90);

Traditionally, it was used to protect children from possessive spirits that were “awakened” as a result of a recent death in the village (Silook 1940: 105-108). Tattooing needles were made from slivers of bone, but as time passed, St. Lawrence Islanders ( Sivuqaghhmiit ) began using steel needles for “skin stitching.

” According to elder Mabel Toolie of Savoonga, one of the last women to wear traditional facial tattooing, a very small bag of seal intestine was used to hold the tattoo needle: “they don’t use this needle for anything else, they just keep it in there and nobody else is supposed to touch it except the one who used it” (Krutak 2003e: 14).

In unpublished field notes, Geist described that the tattoo needle is laid aside and not used again until the tattoo heals. This seems to indicate that the tattoo needle was a dangerous object and “when any Eskimo is injured either accidently [sic] or willfully by any instruments, those instruments, including tattoo instruments [needles], are not used again until the wound is healed up again. Siberian Yupik woman  “stitching the skin” at Indian Point, Chukotka, 1901. After Bogoras (1904-09: pl. xxx, fig. 4). The sinew ( ivalu ) used for tattooing usually came from reindeer tendons and sometimes from the tendons of sea mammals, like bowhead or gray whales (Krutak 1998: 23). Reindeer  ivalu  was made available by neighboring Siberians through trade.

  1. If death occurs on account of the injury or if sickness results the instrument will be taken with the body of the dead or will be otherwise destroyed” (Geist 1927-34: n;
  2. In the reindeer, a bundle of tendons ( ivalungelqughruk ) lie underneath the skin on either side of the vertebrae or along the muscles of the back legs (Krutak 1998: 23);

These fine strands of reindeer  ivalu  were utilized in the tattooing of women. The  ivalu  procured from the back of the bowhead or gray whale was used in the tattooing of men, since, its coarseness was likened to that of a man’s skin (Krutak 1998: 23).

Sometimes whale  ivalu  was used to tattoo women, but only when they served as a pallbearer at a funeral. Urine ( tequq ) was also considered to be an apotropaic substance suitable for tattooing, perhaps because it came from the bladder: an organ considered to be one of the primary seats of the life giving force of the soul (Oosten 1997: 88).

Waldemar Bogoras (1904-09: 298), the late 19th century ethnographer of the Chukchi and Siberian Yupiit, recorded that if  tequq  was poured over a spirit’s head, it froze upon contact immediately repelling the entity. In this connection, it is not surprising that some St.

  1. Lawrence Island elders have said that  tequq  was poured around the outside of the traditional  nenglu  house to insure the same effect, because “many years ago, urine was  very special;
  2. It scared away the evil spirit” (Krutak 2003e: 15);

Another St. Lawrence Island elder told me that one night he was walking outside of Gambell village when he was a young man. He heard a buzzing sound in his ears and was scared that a spirit was following him on the trail. He did not want to turn and look back, so he quickly began to urinate and the spirit disappeared immediately! But urine had other more practical uses. Oldest known European depiction of a Siberian Yupik woman, ca. 1795. CONCEPTS OF TATTOOING IN THE ARCTIC Inuit (or Eskimos generally) and St. Lawrence Island Yupiget, in particular, like many other circumpolar and indigenous peoples (Schuster 1951), regarded living bodies as inhabited by multiple souls, each soul residing in a particular joint (Krutak 1998: 28).

  1. Because it has high ammonia content, it helped reduce the scabbing of a new tattoo and promoted healing;
  2. The anthropologist Robert Petersen (1996: 67) has noted that the soul is the element that gives the body life processes, breath, warmth, feelings, and the ability to think and speak;

Accordingly, the ethnologist Edward Weyer (1932: 321) stated in his tome,  The Eskimos , that, “[a]ll disease is nothing but the loss of a soul; in every part of the human body there resides a little soul, and if part of the man’s body is sick, it is because the little soul had abandoned that part, [namely, the joints]. ” Thus, if one of these souls is taken away, the member or limb to which it belongs sickens and possibly dies (Holm 1914: 112) Men’s fluke tail tattoos. After Gordon (1906: pl. ix, no. 3). From this perspective, it is not surprising that tattoos had significant importance in funerary events, especially on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Funerary tattoos ( nafluq ) consisted of small dots at the convergence of various joints: shoulders, elbows, hip, wrist, knee, ankle, neck, and waist joints (Krutak 1998: 32).

  • For applying them, the female tattooist, in cases of both men and women, used a large, skin-sewing needle with whale sinew dipped into a mixture of lubricating seal oil, urine, and lampblack scraped from a cooking pot;

Lifting a fold of skin she passed the needle through one side and out the other, leaving two “spots” under the epidermis. Paul Silook (1940: 105), a native of St. Lawrence Island, explained that these tattoos protected a pallbearer from spiritual attack. Death was characterized as a dangerous time in which the living could become possessed by the “shade” or malevolent spirit of the deceased.

  1. A spirit of the dead was believed to linger for some time in the vicinity of its former village (Nelson 1899: 422);
  2. Though not visible to all, the “shade” was conceived as an absolute material double of the corpse;

And because pallbearers were in direct contact with this spiritual entity, they were ritualistically tattooed to repel it (Krutak 1998: 34). Their joints became the locus of tattoo because it was believed that the evil spirit entered the body at these points, as they were the seats of the soul(s) (Krutak 1999: 231). Inhabitants of St. Lawrence Island, ca. 1816. After Choris (1822: pl. IX). Similarly, nearly every attribute of the human dead was also believed to be equally characteristic of the animal dead, as the spirit of every animal was believed to possess semi-human form (Buijs and Oosten 1997: 7; Nelson 1899: 423; Oosten 1976: 72-74; Rasmussen 1929: 191, 1931: 181).

Urine and tattoo pigments, as the nexus of dynamic and apotropaic power, prevented the evil spirit from penetrating the pallbearer’s body. Men, and more rarely women, were tattooed on St. Lawrence Island when they killed seal, polar bear, or harpooned a bowhead whale ( aghveq ) for the first time (Krutak 1998: 34).

Like the tattoo of the pallbearer, “first-kill” tattoos ( kakileq ) consisted of small dots at the convergence of various joints: shoulders, elbows, hip, wrist, knee, ankle, neck, and waist. The application of these tattoos impeded the future instances of spirit possession at these vulnerable points. “Guardian” or “assistant” tattoos. In the Siberian Yupik language these marks were called  yugaaq  or “powerful person. ” Drawing after Bogoras (1904-09: 343). However,  kakileq were also important to other aspects of the hunt. One of the old hunters in Gambell village told me that “one reason for [the tattoos] is to hit the target, sometimes they don’t [and] I think these are for that purpose, to hit the target” (Krutak 1998: 35). ” Tattooed labret, ca. 1890. After Nelson (1899: 52). This type of sympathetic magic was also manifest in the stylized “whale-fluke” tattoos adorning the corners of men’s mouths (Gordon 1906). Fittingly, these symbols were applied as part of first-kill observances among the Yupiget of St.

  1. This is not entirely surprising, since the anthropologist Robert Spencer (1959: 340) remarked that tattoos on the North Slope of Alaska and other forms of adornment doubled as whaling charms, “serving to bring the whale closer to the boat, to make the animal more tractable and amenable to the harpooner;

Lawrence Island and the Yupiit of Chukotka (Hawkes n. : 22), as well as by other groups in the Arctic (Gordon 1906; Stevenson 1967: 39). From the preceding remarks,   it seems that the issue of death, whether human or animal, cast into symbolic tattooed relief important cultural values by which circumpolar peoples lived their lives and evaluated their experiences.

As noted, physical contact with the dead, human or animal, was met with apprehension. This was because the spirits of great animals (e. , polar bears, whales) or humans were believed to be imbued with a personhood that was considered to be equivalent or superior to that of the living (Mousalimas 1997: 8; Oosten 1997: 98).

As an individual matured, his or her education revolved around the increasing awareness of the natural and supernatural worlds, and the prescriptions and proscriptions for proper behavior within them (Fienup-Riordan 1986: 263). The supernatural was met everywhere in the landscape and places along hunting or travel routes became sacred because they embodied local spirits or manifested the presence of higher divinities including animals and deceased ancestors (Hultkrantz 1965: 308).

Therefore, it was here, within the landscape of sea, ice, and frozen tundra, that the everyday, elusive and unobservable experiences, rituals and rites of passage took place circumscribing the identity of the people by linking them to a collectively shared and experienced sense of place (Nuttall 2000: 42).

Indeed, humans, animals and everything in the natural world shared the same fundamental spiritual essence (Nuttall 2000: 37), and in this sense “persons” were constituted of multiple personal attributes extending beyond the human domain. Eskimos wearing labrets from Kotzebue Sound, Alaska. After Choris (1822). In this connection, specific forms of tattoos recalled an ancestral presence and could be understood to function as the conduit for a visiting spiritual entity, coming from the different temporal dimensions into the contemporary world (Krutak 1998: 37).

You might be interested:  When Can I Use Scented Lotion On My Tattoo?

For example, in many shamanistic performances in the Arctic, the human body was altered (via masking, body painting, vestments, or tattoo) to facilitate the entry of a “spirit helper” (Bogoras 1904-09: 457-60; Campbell 1988, 1989; Eliade 1964: 165-68; Lissner 1961: 272-74; Lommel 1967: 19; Segy 1976).

Tattoos and other forms of adornment acted as magnets attracting a spiritual force – one that was channeled through the ceremonial attire and into the body. Tattoo foils. After Bogoras (1904-09: 255). The tattooing process involved iconographic manifestation of the “other side,” acknowledgment of the manifestation’s power, and harnessing that power within the corporeal envelope of human skin. On St. Lawrence Island, men and women tattooed anthropomorphic spirit helpers onto their foreheads and limbs (Krutak 1998: 38).

  • These stick-like figures, sometimes appropriately named “guardians” or “assistants,” protected individuals from evil spirits, disasters at sea, unknown areas where one traveled, strangers, and even in the case of new mothers, the loss of their children (Bogoras 1904-09: 343; Collins 1930a: 79; Krutak 1998: 38, 2003e: 18-19; Moore 1923: 345);

In Chukotka, murderers inscribed these types of tattoos on their shoulders in hopes of capturing the soul of their victim, thus transforming it into an “assistant,” or even into a part of himself (Bogoras 1904-09). Two young girls from Savoonga, St. Lawrence Island, ca. 1930. Photograph by Dr. Leuman Waugh. Apart from such concepts, there seems to have been some relationship between labrets and tattoos, at least in the Bering Strait region. Adelbert von Chamisso (1986 [1836]: 172), a naturalist with Kotzebue’s expedition of 1815-1818, noted that labrets were rare among St.

Lawrence Island men and often replaced by a tattooed spot. Edward W. Nelson (1899: 52), a naturalist working for the U. Army Signal Service in the late 19th century, also suggested that these circular tattoos were a relic of wearing a lip-plug or labret.

Bogoras (1904-09: 256) believed that this was probably true, though their position did not quite “correspond to the usual position of the labret. These marks are now intended only as charms against the spirits. ” Dewey Anderson and Walter Eells (1935: 175), two sociologists from Stanford University who visited St.

Lawrence Island in the 1930’s, recorded that “a small circle on the lower lip under the corners of the mouth [was tattooed] to prevent a man who has repeatedly fallen into the sea from drowning. ” Similarly, a Diomede Islander from Bering Strait was seen at the turn of the century with a mark tattooed at each corner of the mouth.

He explained it as a preventive prescribed by his mother against the fate that had befallen his father – death by drowning (Gordon 1906; Weyer 1932: 316-17). Siberian Yupik woman with fluke tails ( veghaq ) tattooed on her cheeks, 1901. Photograph by Waldemar Bogoras. St. Lawrence Island woman with intricate facial tattoos, 1901. Photograph by R. Hawley. After Jackson (1902: 28). Henry B. Collins, a Smithsonian archaeologist who worked on St. Lawrence Island in the 1930s, didn’t necessarily believe that drowning was the danger. After interviewing Paul Silook, he was told that  angeyeghaq  (orphan walrus) was the problem: Walrus are believed to eat seals, and even humans, in addition to their usual food of seaweeds and mollusks.

Paul Silook’s father tells of two times he was chased by a walrus. It is believed that walrus that thus depart from their customary diet were left motherless when very young and so did not learn the proper method of eating.

(Collins 1930b: n. ) Maybe, then, Bering Strait people designed labret-like tattoos to repel the aggressive orphan walrus called  angeyeghaq ? Aspects of St. Lawrence Island folklore recorded by Paul Silook suggest that labret-like tattoos recalled in symbolic form the appearance of a killer whale ( mesungesak ): Killer whales are said to have a white spot at each side of the mouth like the labrets of the mainland Siberian natives.

  1. [Killers] are said to have a white strip, ring, running obliquely from around the neck to beneath the flipper;
  2. Like the St;
  3. Lawrence Island leather strip with charms [ uyaghqutat ] worn by men;
  4. (Collins 1930a: 90) Therefore, if the concept of labrets, or labret-like tattoos, represented the killer whale, then the man that wore this tattoo might have believed he would become transformed into one, extending his safe passage through dangerous waters;

On the other hand, the art historian Ralph Coe (1976: 111) believes labrets, and by extension labret-like tattoos, mimicked walrus’ tusks, especially since many labrets were carved from walrus ivory: The ivory seems to stand for the interchangeability of the animal or human, his soul[s], and the recipient, just the Eskimo himself thought of wood as a symbol of strength: “to the Eskimo, dwarf willow is a symbol of strength and suppleness against an overwhelming Arctic background, where survival depends upon a man’s ability to contend with the forces of nature, while at the same time yielding to them and conforming with them. ” Tattooed Chukchi woman with fertility tattoo on cheek and tattoo-foil near mouth, 1901. Photograph by Waldemar Bogoras. Chukchi woman with fertility, chin, and nose markings. After Cantwell (1902: 212). Adopting the anatomical characteristics of the walrus (tusks) through tattoo may have captured the essence of its aggressive behavior or transformed the hunter into this creature. This would not be surprising since the concept of transformation – men into men, men into animals, animals into men, and animals into animals  – permeates all aspects of life in the Bering Strait area and is expressed on all kinds of objects including carved ivory sculpture (Fitzhugh and Kaplan 1982: 186).

No doubt this deceptive “tattoo foil” subverted the attention of the foe and safeguarded the hunter from malicious attack. Tattoo foils, or “guardian” tattoos, were not only confined to labret-like tattoos.

Instead, men and women were variably tattooed on each upper arm and underneath the lip with circles, half-circles, anthropomorphs, or with cruciform elements at both corners of the mouth to disguise the wearer from disease-bearing spirits. Paul Silook (1940: 68) explained, “[y]ou know some families have the same kind of sickness that continues, and people believed that these marks should be put on a child so the spirits might think he is a different person, a person that is not from that family.

  1. In this way people tried to cut off trouble;
  2. ” Similarly, Paul Silook’s father had a small figure of a man tattooed on each upper arm;
  3. He put these on after four of his sons had died, “to change his luck in this regard;

” Other families tattooed small marks at the root of a child’s nose if he or she cried too much. Since a crying child was thought to be an indication of future misfortune: specifically that a family member would soon die. Facial tattoo of a St. Lawrence Island woman. Photograph © 1997 Lars Krutak. The multiplicity of these types of “guardian” tattoos suggest, in all probability, that specific tattoo “remedies” were believed to differ from individual to individual, or more appropriately, from family to family.

An account from a Siberian Yupik man visiting Gambell, St. Lawrence Island in 1940, reveals that this was the case, at least in Mainland Siberia: I was the oldest child in my family. In trying to save my brothers and sisters my father ask[ed] some woman to have me tattooed.

The woman had all kinds of prayer when she tattooed me. While [a] woman [is] tattooing a person, every stitch as she goes has something to say with. My father[,] trying to save me as best he can, he put leather bands around my wrist and forehead, with beads hanging down all over my eyes, and beads on each sole of [my] stocking, stitched through…to save his child from death. (Leighton 1982 [1940]: 16-17) King Island women displaying arm tattoos, ca. 1900. After Gordon (1906: pl. XX). WOMEN’S FACIAL & BODY TATTOOS There seems to have been no widely distributed tattoo design among Eskimo women, although chin patterns or “stripes” were more commonly found than any other (Krutak 1998: 45). Chin stripes served multiple purposes in social contexts.

  • Also on every joint beads are stitched, and sometimes little bells on elbows;
  • My father sewed little pieces of squirrel’s kettle on the band around my shoulders and under [my] arm;
  • Part of parents’ idea to save children;

Most notably, they were tattooed on the chin as part of the ritual of social maturity, a signal to men that a woman had reached puberty. Chin patterns also served to protect women during enemy raids. For example, fighting among the Siberians and St. Lawrence Islanders took place in close quarters, namely in various forms of semi-subterranean dwellings called nenglu.

Raiding parties usually attacked in the early morning hours, at or before first light, hoping to catch their enemies while asleep. Women, valued as important “commodities” during these times, were highly prized for their many abilities.

Not being distinguishable from the men by their clothing in the dim light of the  nenglu , their chin patterns made them more recognizable as females and their lives would be spared (Anderson and Eells 1935: 175). Once captured, however, they were bartered off as slaves.

  • More generally, the chin stripe aesthetic was important to the Diomede Islanders living in Bering Strait;
  • Ideally, thin lines tattooed onto the chin were valuable indicators for choosing a wife, according to anthropologist Sergei Bogojavlensky (1969: 158): It was believed that a girl who smiled and laughed too much would cause the lines to spread and get thick;

A girl with a full set of lines on the chin, all of them thin, was considered to be a good prospect as a wife, for she was clearly serious and hard working. St. Lawrence Island Yupik facial and hand tattooing ( igaq ). Photographs © 1997 Lars Krutak. A full set of lines was not only a powerful physical statement of the ability to endure great pain, but also an attestation to a woman’s powers of “animal” attraction.

  • For example, in the St;
  • Lawrence and Siberian Yupik area of the early 20th century, women painted and tattooed their faces in ritual ceremonies in order to imitate, venerate, honor, and/or attract those animals that “will bring good fortune” to the family (Hughes 1959: 72);

Waldemar Bogoras (1904-09: 359) added, “[i]t is a mistake to think that women are weaker than men in hunting-pursuits,” since as a man wanders in vain about the wilderness, searching, women “that sit by the lamp are really strong, for they know how to call the game to the shore.

” Moreover, it was through the performance of domestic activities – butchering, cooking (turning hunted meat into edible ‘food) and sewing (creating sturdy and beautiful clothing that attracted game) – that a woman’s ritual position as “wife the hunter” became solidified in Arctic culture (Bodenhorn 1990: 65).

In this connection, it seems that a woman’s facial tattoos assured a kind of spiritual permanency: they lured into the house a part of the land or sea, and along with that, part of its animal and spiritual life. Not surprisingly, an unusual event, such as the capture of a whale by a young woman’s father, was sometimes commemorated on her cheek(s) by tattooed fluke tails, which advertised her father’s prowess to members of Yupik society (Doty 1900: 218).

  1. Slightly sloping parallel lines, usually consisting of three tightly grouped bands on the cheek, were also tattooed on women;
  2. Bogoras (1904-09:254) mentioned that childless Chukchi women “tattoo on both cheeks three equidistant lines running all the way around;

This is considered one of the charms against sterility. ” There is a similar belief related in the story of  Ayngaangaawen , a woman from the extinct St. Lawrence Island village of Kookoolok. Ayngaangaawen  refused to get her tattoo-marks. She could not bear healthy children, and as a result, they all died as infants. Medicinal tattoos observed by Nelson (1899). Other tattoos of St. Lawrence Island women have more cryptic functions. For example, two slightly diverging lines ran from high up on the forehead down over the full length of the nose. These tattoos were quite often the first ones to be placed upon pre-pubescent girls (six to ten years of age).

Supposedly, “when she got some marks she had children” and they lived into adulthood (Krutak 1998: 49). Daniel S. Neuman (1917: 5), a doctor living in Nome, Alaska at the turn of the 20th century, wrote that these tattoos distinguished a woman “in after life from a man, on account of the similarity of [their] dress.

” Chukchi myths illustrate that these same tattoos were the symbol par excellence   of the woman herself (Bogoras 1904-09: 254). Tattoos also marked the thighs of young St. Lawrence Island women when they reached puberty. In Igloolik, Canada, some 2,500 miles east of St.

Lawrence Island, the tattooing of women’s thighs ensured that the first thing a newborn infant saw would be something of beauty (Driscoll 1987: 198). Intricate scrollwork found on the cheeks, and tattoos on the arms of women possibly form elements of a genealogical puzzle (Krutak 1998: 52).

Most women of St. Lawrence Island say these tattoos are simply “make-up,” beautifying their bodies. Dr. Neuman (1917: 5) verified that this was the case, but he also believed that “[e]ach tribe adhered to their own design but with a slight modification for their own individual members.

  1. The designs on the hands and arms often combined tribal and family designs and formed, so to speak, a family tree;
  2. ” On the arms of one of my female informants, rows of fluke tails extend from her wrists to the middle of her forearms;

These symbols represent her clan ( Aymaramket ), an honored lineage of great whale hunters (Krutak 1998: 52). Punuk sculpture with medicinal markings near eyes. Sketch courtesy of the Rock Foundation. Drawing of a Diomede Islander with medicinal tattoos. After Gordon (1906: pl. IX). Although it seems as though a woman’s tattoo designs were individualistic, those tattoos found on the back of the hand ( igaq ) were not; possibly suggesting that these motifs marked the identities of women belonging to a cohort. From Left: The Pazyryk “Chief” and “The Iceman. ” Redrawn after Spindler (1994: 172, 173). The 5000-year-old Iceman is the oldest known human to have worn medicinal tattoos akin to acupuncture. A 2500-year-old mummy of a Siberian Pazyryk chief also sported tattoos; markings that were probably applied for therapeutic purposes (Krutak 1999).

  • For example, the last group of St;
  • Lawrence Island women to have retained  igaq   had identical tattoo patterns and it is these women who were the last age group to be tattooed on St;
  • Lawrence Island, ca;
  • 1920 (Krutak 2003e: 25);

MEDICINAL FUNCTION OF TATTOOS In the previous sections, the apotropaic aspect of tattoo has been discussed, specifically as a remedy against supernatural possession. In light of the indigenous theory of disease causation – dangerous spirits – it is not surprising that tattoo was considered as a form of medicine against a variety of ills.

This medicine was believed to act as a curative or as a preventative one. Paramount to these concepts was the role of the preventive function. Circumpolar peoples were socialized and trained from their earliest days to build their bodies into pillars of strength through running, weightlifting, wading into frigid waters, etc.

(Hughes 1960: 90). Therefore, when a biological disorder rose to life threatening levels, where “preventive” medicinal practice had failed the cure, it then became the responsibility of the shaman to summon his or her spiritual powers to safeguard and restore health.

Disorders, as well as other inexplicable misfortunes, were attributed to supernatural agency and were believed to be curable through the use of tattoo (Krutak 1999: 230; Rudenko 1949). Oftentimes, shamans applied these types of medicinal tattoos, though not always.

Tattoo, as a curative agent, was often disorder-specific. Some maladies were cured with the application of small lines or marks on or near afflicted areas. Some examples from St. Lawrence Island are as follows:

  • A mark over the sternum, which is the shaman’s cure for heart trouble.
  • A small straight mark over each eye, the cure for eye trouble.
  • Various other small marks on the body used as remedies from time to time by the shaman. (Anderson and Eells 1935: 175)

Thus, two lines placed near the eye of a man from St. Lawrence Island observed by the Smithsonian ethnologist Nelson in the 1880s represented one of these types of medicinal marking. Such markings are even seen on ancient Okvik/Old Bering Sea (500 B. – 750 A. ) and Punuk (750 – 1050 A. ) culture ivory carvings from St.

Lawrence Island. In the Bering Strait region, the ethnologist George B. Gordon (1906: 81) observed a Diomede Island man with tattooed marks on either cheek, close to the mouth, others on the temple and two more on the forehead.

These three sets of marks on his face were explained as “medicine” and their presence was said to have directly benefited the wearer. Reconstructions of the Qilakitsoq mummies, Greenland, 15th century A. Redrawn after Kapel et al. (1991: 105). But tattoo medicine was not only confined to the simple placement of the markings themselves, since traditional practices of tattoo and ritually induced bleeding were oftentimes interrelated and may have even overlapped to some extent.

Around Bering Strait, shamans commonly performed bloodletting to relieve aching or inflamed parts of the body. Nelson (1899: 309-310) watched a shaman “lancing the scalp of his little girl’s head, the long, thin iron point of the instrument being thrust twelve to fifteen times between the scalp and skull.

” Similarly, the Alaskan Aleuts (Unangax) performed bloodletting as remedies for numerous ailments attributed to “bad blood” (Lantis 1984: 173). On St. Lawrence Island, bleeding was resorted to in cases of severe migraine headache or as one elder said, “to release anything with a high blood pressure…the [ancestors] know that” (Krutak 1999: 231). From Left: Punuk and Okvik/Old Bering Sea doll-heads with tattoo-puncture at facial joints, ca. 500-700 A. Photograph courtesy of Rock Foundation. Drawing by Mark Planisek. It is also plausible that the release of blood functioned to appease various ills and spiritual manifestations. For instance, several St. Lawrence Islanders explained to me the importance of licking the blood that was released during tattoo “operations.

The Chugach Eskimo treated sore eyes by bleeding at the root of the nose or at the temples. Then the patient was made to swallow the blood, which affected the cure (Fortuine 1985: 35). ” According to one elder, the female tattoo artist, who performed the skin stitching, licked the blood that flowed from the punctured skin, “because that helps, to aah, for them to have good sight” (Krutak 1999: 231).

Evidently, “bad blood” released from the tattoo rite acted as a kind of supplementary healing agent remedying specific ailments. Reliance on this cultural practice might seem to have grown out of the impression that the expulsion of the evil spirit would be facilitated through the escaping stream of blood (Weyer 1932: 324).

Thus, by harnessing blood orally, and/or neutralizing it with saliva, the tattoo artist transformed it into a sanctifying substance. TATTOOING AS A FORM OF ACUPUNCTURE Surprisingly, the Arctic shaman’s prophetic role in medicinal practice was closely paralleled by that of the Chinese acupuncturist (Krutak 1999: 231-232).

Both were consulted to identify the causes of disease, by differentiation of symptoms and signs, to provide suitable treatments. In acupuncture, pathogenic forces are thought to invade the human body from the exterior via the mouth, nose or body surfaces and the resultant diseases are called exogenous disease (Compilation 1981).

In circumpolar cultures, and especially on St. Lawrence Island, the primary factor determining sickness was the intrusion of an evil spirit from outside the body into one of the souls of the afflicted individual.

These types of malevolent actions of the spirit upon the body were traced to disordered behavior, possession, illness (rheumatism), and sometimes death (Krutak 1998: 58; 1999: 231). Consequently, and as a form of spiritual/medicinal practice, St. Lawrence Islanders tattooed specific joints. Kiyalighaq mummy’s forearm tattoos, 4th century A. Redrawn after Smith and Zimmerman (1975: 435). Ammassalik, Greenland arm tattoo, ca. 1897. After Holm (1914). In both Chinese acupuncture theory and St. Lawrence Island medicinal theory, it is believed that all ailments of the body, whether internal of external, are reflected at specific points either at on the surface of the skin or just beneath it.

  • As mentioned earlier, joints served as the vehicular “highways” which evil entities traveled to enter the human body and injure it;
  • Thus, joint-tattoos protected individuals by closing down these pathways, since the substances utilized to produce tattoo pigment – urine, soot, and sometimes graphite – were the nexus of dynamic and apotropaic power, preventing an evil spirit from penetrating the human body;
You might be interested:  Why Does Adele Like Saturn Tattoo?

In acupuncture, many of these points occur at the articulation of major joints and lie along specific pathways called “meridians”. Meridians connect the internal organs with specific points that are located either on or in the epidermis, often in close proximity to nerves and blood vessels (Chu 1979: 7).

  1. Evoking the Chinese acupuncturists’ yin/yang cosmology, the body is in a perpetual state of dynamic equilibrium, oscillating between the poles of masculine and feminine, man and animal, sickness and health (Scheper-Hughes and Lock 1987: 12);

Thus, relieving excess pressure at these points enables the body to regain its former state of homeostasis (harmony) within and outside of the body. As one can imagine, it is believed that there are many possible interrelationships and connections between organs, points, joints, and tattoos.

  1. Analysis of traditional St;
  2. Lawrence Island tattoo practices suggests that several tattooed areas on the body directly correspond to classical acupuncture points (Krutak 1999: 232-244);
  3. In the recent past, these parallels were known to the St;

Lawrence Islanders themselves. For example, one elder explained to me that one of the areas tattoos were placed upon Grandparents, when they were pricking that [point when they] hurt from headache, when [they] thought that [the] eyes are bothering you…they use, aah, acupuncture. Ammassalik breast tattoo, ca. 1897. Of course, this type of remedy is quite ancient. The earliest known reference to acupuncture analgesia of this kind is in a legend about Hua To (110-207 A. ), the first-known Chinese surgeon, who used acupuncture for headache (Chu 1979: 2). The Unangax also utilized acupuncture in medical therapy.

  1. Acupuncture was resorted to in cases of headache, eye disorders, colic, and lumbago (Marsh and Laughlin 1956);
  2. Like the St;
  3. Lawrence Islanders, the Unangax “tattoo-punctured” to relieve aching joints;
  4. The anthropologist Margaret Lantis observed that Atka Islanders, “moistened thread covered with gunpowder (probably soot in former times) sew[ing] through the pinched-up skin near an aching joint or across the back over a region of pain;

” Apparently, the efficacy of this potent medical technology was very great, because it was not only confined to the North Pacific Rim. For example, archaeological evidence in the form of tattooed mummies indicates that tattoo-puncture reached Greenland in the distant past (Krutak 1999).

Radiocarbon dated to the 15th century A. , the mummies of Qilakitsoq have revealed that a conscious, exacting attempt was made to place dot-motif tattoos at important facial points (Kapel et al. 1991). Being that these dot-motif tattoos are suggestive of acupuncture points, and coupled with the fact that each actually designates a classical acupuncture point, cultural affinity must be suggested.

Besides, Danish ethnologist Gustav Holm (1914: 29) reported that Greenlanders “now and then…resort to tattooing in cases of sickness. ” Although we are not entirely sure if Holm was specifically referring to “tattoo-puncture” in his statement, several intriguing 1,500 year-old ivory “doll-heads” excavated from St. Ivory figurine from the Punuk culture displaying breast and arm tattoos. However, there are other similarities in the tattoo cultures of St. Lawrence Island and Greenland. In the early 1970s, beach erosion exposed the heavily tattooed, mummified body of an Okvik/Old Bering Sea woman radiocarbon dated to 1,600 years ago at Cape Kiyalighaq, St.

Lawrence Island illustrate ancient continuity spanning thousands of miles and hundreds of years (Krutak 1999: 244). Lawrence Island (Smith and Zimmerman 1975: 433). Her forearm tattoos were very reminiscent of those seen in late 19th century photographs of East Greenlanders at Ammassalik (Holm 1914).

Other  Ammassalimniut  women displayed breast and arm tattoos similar to engraved female ivory figurines from the Punuk culture of St. Lawrence Island, suggesting that these practices not only persisted remarkably over the centuries, but stressed cultural unity for tattooing in the Eskimo area as a whole and, more specifically, of material culture from Greenland to ancient maritime cultures of St.

Lawrence Island. Considering the vast expanse of the Arctic culture area, the largest in the world, this may seem surprising. However, as circumpolar peoples were unified by environment, language, custom, and belief, the distinction is quite clear: as tattoo became part of the skin, the body became a permanent part of Arctic culture.

Tattooing was a graphic image of social beliefs and values expressing the many ways in which circumpolar peoples attempted to control their bodies, lives, and experiences. As such, tattoos provided a nexus between individual, family, and communally defined forces that shaped perceptions of existence.

  1. LITERATURE Anderson, H;
  2. and W;
  3. Eells;
  4. 1935;
  5. Alaska Natives: A Survey of Their Sociological and Educational Status;
  6. Stanford: University of Stanford Press;
  7. Apassingok, A;
  8. , W;
  9. Walunga, and E;
  10. Tennant;
  11. 1985;
  12. Lore of St;
  13. Lawrence Island: Echoes of Our Eskimo Elders, Vol;

I: Gambell. Unalakleet: Bering Strait School District. Barfield, L. 1994. “The Iceman Reviewed. ” Antiquity 68: 10-26. Birket-Smith, K. 1953. The Chugach Eskimo. Nationalmuseets Skrifter, Etnografisk Raekke 6. Copenhagen. Boas, F. 1901-07. The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay.

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 15. New York. Bogojavlensky, S. 1969. Imaangmiut Eskimo Careers: Skinboats in Bering Strait. (Unpublished Ph. Dissertation in Social Relations, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

) Bogoras, W. (also Bogoraz, V. 1904-1909. The Chukchee. The Jesup North Pacific Expedition 7, Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. New York. Chamisso, A. von. 1986 [1836]. A Voyage Around the World with the Romanzov Exploring Expedition in the Years 1815-1818 in the Brig Rurik.

(H. Kratz, trans. and ed. , reprinted 1986. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ) Chu, L. , S. Yeh, and D. Wood. 1979. Acupuncture Manual: A Western Approach. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. Coe, R. 1976. Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art.

Arts Council of Great Britain. London: Lund Humphries. Collins, H. , Jr. 1929. “Prehistoric Art of the Alaskan Eskimo. ” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 81(14): 1-52. Collins, H. , Jr. 1930. “Notebook A. ” Unpublished Fieldnotes from the H. Collins Collection, Box 45, St.

Lawrence Island. National Anthropological Archives, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Washington. Compilation. 1981. Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Coughlan, A.

1994. “Alpine Iceman Was a Martyr to Arthritis. ” New Scientist 144 (1956): 10. Driscoll, B. 1987. “The Inuit Parka as an Artistic Tradition. ” Pp. 170-200 in The Spirit Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada’s First Peoples (D. Cameron, ed. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.

Fitzhugh, W. and S. Kaplan. 1982. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Fortuine, R. 1985. “Lancets of Stone: Traditional Methods of Surgery Among the Alaska Natives.

” Arctic Anthropology 22(1): 23-45. Geist, O. 1927-34. Field Notes. On File, Alaska and Polar Regions Archives, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Gilder, W. 1881. Schwatka’s Search: Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

  1. Gordon, G;
  2. 1906;
  3. “Notes on the Western Eskimo;
  4. ” Transactions of the Department of Archaeology, Free Museum of Science and Art 2(1): 69-101;
  5. Philadelphia;
  6. Hakluyt, R;
  7. 1907-1910 [1589];
  8. Principal Navigations, Voyages, etc;

of the English Nation. 8 vols. New York: E. Dutton. Harrington, R. 1981. The Inuit: Life As It Was. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers Ltd. Hawkes, E. “Notes on the Asiatic Eskimo. ” Unpublished notes from the Bogoras Papers, Box 131-F-4, fldr. 1 New York City Public Library. Holm, G.

1914. “Ethnological Sketch of the Angmagsalik Eskimo. ” Meddelelser om Grønland 141 (1-2). Copenhagen. Hughes, C. 1959 “Translation of I. Voblov’s ‘Eskimo Ceremonies. ‘” Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska 7(2): 71-90.

Hughes, C. 1960. An Eskimo Village in the Modern World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Kapel, H. , N. Kronmann, F. Mikkelsen, and E. Rosenlov. 1991. “Tattooing. ” Pp. 102-115 in The Greenland Mummies (J. Hansen, J. Meldgaard, J. Nordqvist, eds. ) Published for the Trustees of the British Museum.

  • London: British Museum Publications;
  • Kaplan, S;
  • 1983;
  • Spirit Keepers of the North: Eskimos of Western Alaska University Museum Publication;
  • Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press;
  • Krutak, L;
  • 1998;
  • One Stitch at a Time: Ivalu and Sivuqaq Tattoo;

(Unpublished Master’s Thesis in Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska. ) Krutak, L. 1998. “St. Lawrence Island Yupik Tattoo: Body Modification and the Symbolic Articulation of Society. ” Chicago Anthropology Exchange 27: 54-82. Winter. Krutak, L.

  • 1999;
  • “Im Zeichen des Wals;
  • ” Tätowier Magazin 5(39): 52-56;
  • Krutak, L;
  • 1999;
  • “St;
  • Lawrence Island Joint-Tattooing: Spiritual/Medicinal Functions and Intercontinental Possibilities;
  • ” Études/Inuit/Studies 23(1-2): 229-252;

Krutak, L. 2014. Tattoo Traditions of Native North America: Ancient and Contemporary Expressions of Identity. Arnhem: LM Publishers. Lantis, M. 1984. “Aleut. ” Pp. 161-184 in Arctic (Handbook of the North American Indians, vol. 5, D. Damas, ed. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.

Leighton, D. 1982. Field Notes (1940) of Dorothea Leighton and Alexander Leighton. On file in the archives of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Marsh, G. and W. Laughlin. 1956. “Human Anatomical Knowledge Among the Aleutian Islanders.

” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 12(1): 38-78. McGhee, R. 1996. Ancient People of the Arctic. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Nelson, E. 1899. The Eskimo About Bering Strait. Pp. 3-518 in 18th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for the Years 1896-1897.

Washington. Neuman, D. 1917. “Tattooing on St. Lawrence Island. ” The Eskimo 1(11): 5. Nome. Petersen, R. 1996. “Body and Soul in Ancient Greenlandic Religion. ” Pp. 67-78 in Shamanism and Northern Ecology , (J. Pentikainen, ed.

Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Reuters. 1998. “Iceman May Be First Patient of Treatment: Ancient Acupuncture. ” http://abcnews. go. com. Rudenko, S. 1949. “Tatuirovka aziatskikh eskimosov. ” Sovetskaia etnografiia 14: 149-154. Rudenko, S. 1970. Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron Age Horsemen (M.

Thompson, trans. Berkeley: University of California Press. Scheper-Hughes, N. and M. Lock. 1987. “The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology. ” Medical Anthropological Quarterly 1: 6-41.

Schuster, C. 1951. “Joint-Marks: A Possible Index of Cultural Contact Between America, Oceania and the Far East. ” Koninklijk voor Tropen, Medeleling 44, Afdeling Culturale en Physiche Anthropologie 39: 3-51. Schuster, C. 1952. “V-Shaped Chest Markings: Distribution of a Design-Motive in and Around the Pacific.

  • ” Anthropos 47: 99-118;
  • Silook, P;
  • 1940;
  • “Life Story” and “Tattooe of Man;
  • ” Unpublished Notes from the Dorothea C;
  • Leighton Collection, Box 3, Folder 67 and 68, pp;
  • 103-114, and p;
  • 1-2, archives, University of Alaska, Fairbanks Smith, G;

and R. Zimmerman. 1975. “Tattooing Found on a 1600 Year Old Frozen, Mummified Body from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. ” American Antiquity 40(4): 433-437. Spencer, R. 1959. The North Alaskan Eskimo: A Study in Ecology and Society. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 171.

  1. Washington;
  2. Spindler, K;
  3. 1994;
  4. The Man in the Ice: The Discovery of a 5,000-Year-Old Body Reveals the Secrets of the Stone Age (E;
  5. Osers, trans;
  6. New York: Harmony Books;
  7. Stevenson, A;
  8. 1967;
  9. “Telltale Tattoos;
  10. ” North 14(6): 37-43;

Taylor, J. 1984. “Historical Ethnography of the Labrador Coast. ” Pp. 508-521 in Arctic (Handbook of the North American Indians, vol. 5, D. Damas, ed. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Turner, L. 1887. Ethnological Catalogue of Ethnological Collections made by Lucien M.

  1. Turner in Ungava and Labrador, Hudson Bay Territory, June 24, 1882 to October 1, 1884;
  2. Prepared for the U;
  3. National Museum, May 1887;
  4. Smithsonian Institution Archives;
  5. Washington;
  6. Wardwell, A;
  7. 1986;
  8. Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait;

New York: Hudson Hills Press. Weyer, E. , Jr. 1932. The Eskimos: Their Environment and Folkways. New Haven: Yale University Press..

What is Agnes hailstones net worth?

Chip and Agnes Hailstone net worth: Chip and Agnes Hailstone are trappers, hunters, and reality television personalities who have a net worth of $100 thousand dollars. Chip and Agnes Hailstone met in Alaska, after Chip Hailstone moved there from Kalispell, Montana.

Anna is a native Inupiaq. The couple has seven children together and live entirely off the land. They migrate each season to follow the best hunting, and the entire family participates in any hunting, fishing, skinning, harvesting, tanning, and crafting required.

The family does not waste any of what they kill. They eat or use every part of the animals they kill. The Hailstone family is one of the families followed on the reality series, “Life Below Zero”, on the National Geographic Channel. The show chronicles six families as they struggle to survive in harsh weather in remote parts of Alaska.

How much does Agnes Hailstone make on Life Below Zero?

How much do the people on ‘Life Below Zero’ make? – There’s no official word on how much they make, but reports say that Sue Aiken gets paid $4,500 per episode and $200,000 per year to star in the show. Glenn Villeneuve was also said to make $200,000 a year. Article continues below advertisement Other cast members like Chip and Agnes Hailstone and Jessie Holmes reportedly also make $4,500 per episode of Life Below Zero. Andy Bassich reportedly makes about $100,000 a year. Andy also has a girlfriend named Denise Becker. She moved to Alaska to be with him from Florida. She’s a nurse so it’s possible that she made a good amount of money before she and Andy even got together. But it’s not clear how much she makes from the show as a whole.

Article continues below advertisement But Chip, whose real name is Edward, has had less time to make money from the show compared to others. He’s been in prison for part of the time since Life Below Zero has been on the air.

During filming Season 10, he served time for perjury and making false statements to the police. In the meantime, his wife Agnes and their kids maintained life on the outside.

Is Life Below Zero legitimate?

Survival of the fittest is the name of the game on the National Geographic reality television series, Life Below Zero. Viewers are transported to the Alaskan wilderness where the cast members on the show give you an inside look at how they live. Article continues below advertisement Surrounded by nothing but the great Alaskan wild, which includes extreme temperatures (60 degrees below zero to be exact), wild animals that are ready to kill at any moment, and surviving with nothing but the bare necessities, fans are taken on an epic journey. Article continues below advertisement Source: National Geographic Sue Aikens on ‘Life Below Zero. ‘ According to Anchorage Daily News , star Susan Aikens filed a lawsuit against a producer after she was allegedly forced to perform dangerous stunts for narratives made up by the producer, which resulted in her being injured. Article continues below advertisement Susan claimed in the suit that she was forced to camp at a spot that she was unfamiliar with, and was told she would have to travel there by snow machine, instead of using an Argo ATV.

  1. The show initially aired in 2013, and though audiences may be captivated by people who choose to live in the Alaskan outdoors, is Life Below Zero as “real” as it claims to be? While the dangers of the great outdoors are very much real, some of the series and stunts have been said to be scripted by the producers;

She also alleged that she was not able to take her pet dog with her, which she was upset about because the “series is not supposed to be scripted. ” The lawsuit also states that after Susan suggested wanting to go hunt, the producer told the reality star to travel alongside the river “into the overflow. Article continues below advertisement The crew reportedly tried to help Susan, by taking off her some of heavy clothes, but this exposed the plaintiff to temperatures below zero. Not only was she apparently severely injured, the producer did not call for a medical transport right away, and when he finally did, he reportedly instructed the pilot to land at the very end of the mile-long runway. According to the lawsuit, this was “to film how much pain plaintiff was suffering, and to film plaintiff walking injured.

” Though Susan argued with the producer, she eventually gave in and was injured after being thrown from the snow machine. ” Article continues below advertisement In the show’s defense, the crews behind the cameras also have to endure the sub-zero climate to capture all the action, which is a feat in itself.

And it turns out, they sometimes have to deal with stubborn reality stars. “It was a cameraman I’d never worked with before and we had our differences right from the start. It got to the point where one night, up on a mountain in the dark, I could tolerate him no longer,” Glenn Villeneuve explained.

“I told him where to go. A helicopter was sent to whisk him away and we will not be working together again. I’m a big believer in arranging things so that I don’t have to work or spend time with people I don’t like.

That is a priority for me.

What does it mean when you have 3 dots tattooed on your hand?

By C1 Staff Jail staff can stay safer by knowing as much as they can about inmates. And sometimes, inmates make it easy to know exactly what they’ve been up to through the use of tattoos. Here are 15 tattoos and their secret meanings. Know a different meaning for the tattoos displayed here? Share it in the comments. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean 1488   (Photo freetattoodesigns. org) This number can be found on white supremacist/Nazi inmates. The numbers 14 or 88 on their own can also be used, which sometimes creates confusion. Fourteen represents fourteen words, which are a quote by Nazi leader David Lane: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children.

Be sure to check out more of our coverage on prison tattoos, including 15 more prison tattoos and their meanings , 12 Russian prison tattoos and their meanings , and a collection of inmate takes on prison ink.

” The 88 is shorthand for the 8 th letter of the alphabet twice, HH, which represents Heil Hitler. Typically, these tattoos can be found anywhere on the body. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean The Cobweb  (Photo Timeless Tattoos Glasglow) Cobwebs typically represent a lengthy term in prison. The symbolism is associated with spiders trapping prey; or criminals trapped behind bars. This tattoo is commonly found on the elbow, signifying sitting around so long with your elbows on the table that a spider made a web on your elbow, though it can also be located on the neck. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean Teardrop  (Photo trendfashion2013) One of the most widely recognized prison tattoos, the teardrop’s meaning varies geographically. In some places, the tattoo can mean a lengthy prison sentence, while in others it signifies that the wearer has committed murder. If the teardrop is just an outline, it can symbolize an attempted murder. It can also mean that one of the inmate’s friends was murdered and that they are seeking revenge.

  1. If you see a multi-colored web, it’s probably not a prison tattoo; tattoo ‘artists’ in jail rarely have access to colored ink;
  2. The teardrop has been popularized recently by rappers and other celebrities, but still remains a staple in prisons;
You might be interested:  How To Remove Saniderm Tattoo Bandage?

Those who are newbies behind bars with a teardrop tattoo will make a lot of enemies, fast. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean Five-point crown  (Photo Gwan Soon Lee Tattoo) This is the symbol of the Latin Kings gang, which is one of the biggest Hispanic gangs in the U. based out of Chicago. The crown will often be accompanied by the letters ALKN, which stands for Almighty Latin Kings Nation. The five points are due to the Latin Kings being an affiliate of the People Nation gang, which is represented by the number five. Latin Kings have a huge presence both in and out of prison, and their roots go back to the 1940s. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean Three dots (Photo Whiserkino) The three dots tattoo is a common prison tattoo that represents “mi vida loca,” or “my crazy life. ” It’s not associated with any particular gang, but with the gang lifestyle itself. This tattoo is typically found on the hands or around the eyes. It can also carry some religious significance, such as representing Christianity’s holy trinity. The three dot tattoo is often created using a stick-and-poke method, requiring very rudimentary tools. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean Five dots   (Photo My Sarisari Store) These dots differ greatly from the previous tattoo – five dots represents time done in prison. Also known as the quincunx, the four dots on the outside represent four walls, with the fifth on the inside representing the prisoner. This tattoo can be found internationally, among both American and European inmates. The dots are typically found on an inmate’s hand, between the thumb and forefinger. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean The clock with no hands  (Photo Tattoo Me Pink) This tattoo is, fairly obviously, representative of ‘doing time’ and doing a lot of it. Those serving a longer sentence might get this tattoo done on their wrist, with watch straps and all, much like a real watch. The clock face itself can come in a few forms, such as the face of a wall clock or a grandfather clock. Not all clock tattoos are tied to prison; generally just the ones lacking hands. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean Aryan Brotherhood  (Photo Media Lib) This prison gang has a variety of tattoos to look out for, ranging from ‘AB’ to Nazi symbols like a swastika or SS bolts. The Brotherhood makes up 1 percent of the inmate population, but are responsible for 20 percent of murders inside of U. prisons, so identifying these tattoos are extremely beneficial. The tattoos can also be referred to as Alice Baker, the One-Two, or The Brand. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean Norte ñ o  (Photo Know Gangs) Norteño tattoos represent the Nuestra Familia gang, which is associated with Hispanic gangs in Northern California. Their tattoos include the word Norteño, Nuestra Familia, a sombrero symbol, the letter N or the number 14, symbolizing the 14 th letter of the alphabet (yup – the letter N). The Norteños are rivals of the Suerños, Hispanic gangs based out of Southern California.

  • Other details of the crown, such as the colors of the jewels in the points, can have a whole other level of hidden meanings;
  • Five dots on other parts of the body can have different meanings, such as an association with the People Nation gang;

The unofficial dividing line between the two is in Delano, California. The Norteños identify themselves with red bandanas and mainly get their income from smuggling and distributing cocaine, heroin and meth. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean La Eme   (Photo Police Mag) ‘La Eme,’ or The M, is the symbol of the Mexican Mafia. They are one of the largest and most ruthless prison gangs in the U. They’re allied with the Aryan Brotherhood, and have a common enemy in the Nuestra Familia. La Eme was started not in Mexico, but in Mexican-Americans who were incarcerated in American prisons. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean MS 13  (Photo Wikimedia) The MS 13, also sometimes seen just as MS or 13, is a symbol of the Mara Salvatrucha gang from El Salvador. Typically these tattoos can be found anywhere on the body, but are most often found in highly visible places like the face, hands or neck. LA Mara Salvatrucha was started in the Los Angeles area by El Salvadoran immigrants. There are now MS-13 chapters all over the U. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean Playing cards  (Photo Tattos Time) Playing cards, or suits of the deck in general, usually indicate an inmate who likes to gamble. This applies to gambling games both within prison and without; it can also represent a person who generally views life as a gamble. This tattoo is very popular in Russian prisons, where each deck has its own meaning. A spade represents a thief; clubs symbolize criminals in general.

  1. La Eme is a Sureño gang, belonging to a large affiliation of Hispanic gangs in Southern California;
  2. and even in Canada;
  3. Their industries range from dealing drugs to child prostitution;
  4. Diamonds are reserved for stoolpigeons and informants – if the cards have this deck, then it was likely applied with force;

Hearts imply that someone is looking for a romantic partner in the prison, which may also be forcibly applied. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean EWMN  (Photo Turner) These letters stand for ‘Evil, Wicked, Mean, Nasty. ‘ Having no particular affiliation with any gang, they simply represent the general disposition of some prison inmates. Typically found on the knuckles, these types of tattoos were popularized in 1955 by Robert Mitchum in ‘The Night of the Hunter. ‘ His sociopathic preacher character had the words ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattooed on the knuckles of each hand, which has brought about other variants such as ‘Rock/Roll’ and ‘Stay/Down. ‘ What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean Cross on the chest  (Photo Adimaz) Particularly found in Russian prisons, chest tattoos symbolize a ‘Prince of Thieves. ‘ This is the highest rank a Russian convict can achieve, and are generally worn by higher-ups in the mob. Russian prisons have a unique and intricate history of prison tattoos, each with their own unique meaning. Another example are bells, symbolizing freedom, or a tiger on the chest is symbolic of aggression toward the police. What Does Agnes Hailstones Tattoo Mean A. (Photo SAS) This acronym is commonly found on the bodies of British prisoners and stands for “All Cops Are Bastards. ” Some claim that A. also stands for “Always Carry A Bible,” but these are widely believed to be people who regret their tattoo decision.

What does 3 lines tattoo on chin mean?

Many Indigenous tribes around the world have distinctive traditional facial tattoos—the Māori have Tā Moko, the Inuit have Kakiniit—but Gwich’in tattoos often appear as three distinctive lines on the chin, as well as lines on the cheeks or corners of the eye.

Who runs kavik now?

“Life Below Zero” star Sue Aikens is a loner in the offseason at Kavik River Camp, a bed and breakfast she owns and operates in a remote region of northern Alaska. Photo courtesy National Geographic Channel The remote Alaskan outpost of Kavik River Camp , located 15 miles from the Arctic Ocean, 80 miles to the closest road, and 500 miles from the biggest city—Fairbanks—has a population of one; living Life Below Zero. Sue Aikens is featured in “Life Below Zero” on the National Geographic Channel. Photo courtesy National Geographic Channel Meet Sue Aikens, outdoorswoman, adventurer, survivor, hunter, angler, businesswoman, and, perhaps most of all, loner. Aikens owns and operates the Kavik River Camp , one of the most remote bed and breakfast operations in the world.

  1. Two, if you include the dog;
  2. It sits 12 miles from the eastern border of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and smack dab in the middle of grizzly bear territory;
  3. From the beginning of June to the end of September, Aikens hosts eco-tourists, scientific researchers, hunters, hikers, birders, and anybody else seeking a getaway that oozes wildlife and remoteness;

The other eight months, Aikens lives alone, surviving freezing temperatures, high winds, sunless days, and the constant threat of grizzly bears. It’s worth noting that 83 collared grizzlies live within 10 miles of her camp, along with two or three times that many bears without collars, or so she claims. “Life Below Zero” star Sue Aikens at the door of her tent at Kavik River Camp; photo courtesy National Geographic Channel “I stay here because this is where I want to live,” Aikens, 50, told GrindTV Outdoor in a phone interview Wednesday. “I thrive on the challenge. I crave extreme isolation. I like myself. I crack myself up all the time, so I’m pretty cool to hang with … “I enjoy the people and love to hear [their] stories. I appreciate it when they come in [during the tourist season], but I’m pretty yippy-skippy that it’s a limited engagement. ” Approximately where Kavik River Camp is located; image courtesy Google Maps So what does she do in the offseason? She fixes small equipment that has broken down. She maintains a small airstrip, which provides the only access to her camp. She collects water from a nearby river, since she has no running water. She does laundry by hand. She digs out of snow after storms; 17 feet fell one night last winter. She hunts and fishes to provide food for the winter.

  1. It is a reclusive lifestyle, and one that is prominently featured in “Life Below Zero” on the National Geographic Channel;
  2. Its second season premiered Thursday night;
  3. I like people, but I just like to know that they’re also leaving;

“There’s always a list of things to do,” Aikens said. “If you ask any housewife on the planet, ‘Gee whiz, you don’t have a job, how in the world do you keep yourself occupied?’, they’ll hit you in the beak. ” All this, coupled with the harsh Arctic winters when temperatures dip to minus 60 and winds blow 60 mph, prompted National Geographic to feature her in “Life Below Zero.

  • ” A crew of three or four makes trips to Kavik River Camp to spend a brief time with Aikens, filming her day;
  • Nothing is scripted;
  • “There’s enough real stuff that happens that we don’t need to invent it,” she said;

“That’s one of my rules for doing it … Some episodes might not be as exciting as the next, but it’s what really happens. ” What happens is not always pleasant. “Life Below Zero” star Sue Aikens, standing on her “perch” at Kavik River Camp, is constantly scanning the horizon to keep an eye out for grizzly bears. Photo courtesy National Geographic Channel Six years ago, long before the show, Aikens was attacked by a juvenile grizzly bear near the river. She said it was an “alpha push,” that the male bear wanted her territory. “I had to sew my own head together, and my arm, and before my hips popped out, I went across the river, found the bear, shot him, called the trooper, and there I lay for 10 days,” Aikens explained. A fox visits Kavik River Camp; photo courtesy National Geographic Channel Another time, a bear decided to crash through the wall of her tent while she slept, sending her with her rifle scurrying up the stairs in the buff with the bear on her heels. She shot at the bear, which ran off with one of her rubber boots. “In the morning, I found her ear but never did find my boot,” she said. Nowadays she sleeps with a. 44 pistol within reach of her bed. Baseball bats are hidden throughout the camp “as the last line of defense.

She was finally taken to Fairbanks for treatment, and later to the Lower 48 for hip and spinal surgery. ” When visitors arrive, Aikens instructs them to slowly scan the horizon in a 360-degree turn every time they’re out.

Aikens usually is wearing a pair of binoculars because you never know when trouble will come, she said. “It doesn’t mean I live in fear of it coming,” she said. “I respect that it’s better at sneaking up than I am. ” Besides grizzly bears, the region is home to wolves, wolverines, foxes, caribou (all the herds of caribou migrate through the valley, incidentally), dall sheep, and moose. Follow David Strege on Facebook Aerial view of Kavik River Camp featured in “Life Below Zero;” photo courtesy National Geographic Channel What the inside of Sue Aikens’ tent looks like; photo courtesy National Geographic Channel More from GrindTV Meerkats use wildlife photographer as scouting perch Elk attempts to jump fence to follow massive herd but fails miserably Bison running on road fuels speculation that Yellowstone volcano will erupt Follow GrindTV on Google+ For access to exclusive gear videos, celebrity interviews, and more, subscribe on YouTube!.

Does Sue still own kavik?

Life Below Zero New Season Posted at 9:20 AM, Aug 17, 2021 and last updated 2021-08-17 09:20:34-04 We talk with Life Below Zero fan-favorite Sue Aikens about her extreme lifestyle and living off the grid in Alaska. After the Premiere of Life Below Zero, Catch the New Season of the Spin-Off Series, Life Below Zero: Next Generation , Airing Back-to-Back this September. Sue Aikens — faces uncertainty as new apex predators put a threat on her home at Kavik River Camp.

She lives 500 miles from the nearest city and 80 miles from the closest road with 83 grizzly bears as her neighbors. Her address is GPS coordinates and she lives in a tent – even in below 50 degree weather.

Semicolon tattoos: Inking against stigma

She is the sole owner and operator of Kavik River Camp, a base of refuge on the North Slope that she calls home. In addition to her business in Kavik, she also recently purchased the property of her own, a remote cabin in Chena where she spends several months out of the year.

Why is Agnes Hailstone not on Life Below Zero?

What happened to Agnes Hailstone? – It is currently unknown what happened to Agnes and what the reason for her to miss the show’s latest episode is. She made an appearance in the episode prior to this, so her absence from the series could be one-off. Life Below Zero hasn’t addressed Agnes’ absence at the time of publication but she is one of the main cast members and should return for the show’s next episode.

Where does the film crew sleep on Life Below Zero?

Filming Life Below Zero – I also spoke with showrunner and executive produce Joseph Litzinger about the challenges of filming the show. You may not be aware, but most modern cameras and video equipment are not engineered to work properly in such extreme conditions—never mind the human beings who have to run them.

  • For this upcoming season, the crew also had to deal with the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic;
  • He told me that the crew have to be prepared to survive almost as much as the individuals they are filming;

They may have a few more luxuries or conveniences, but they aren’t staying in 5-star hotels. They are out there, living in tents and sheds and cabins right alongside the subjects they are working with. And they are facing the same weather and wildlife challenges—but while carrying an extra 30 to 50 pounds of equipment and trying to capture the perfect shot.

  1. The crew uses aerial drones and GoPro cameras to capture various angles and allow them to get perspectives they can’t get with standard cameras;
  2. They often run into challenges with power;
  3. Batteries drain faster and do not retain their charge in extreme cold;

The crew will sometimes tape battery packs to their bodies to keep them warm with their body heat so they are ready to go when needed. I suggested that they might want to consider a spinoff that focuses on the crew. They could have the crew out there filming the subjects for “Life Below Zero,” and a second crew filming a reality series of the first crew to document what it’s like trying to survive the same conditions while filming at the same time—and what it takes to ensure the technology works in those extremes.

Filming was shut down briefly when all travel was halted at the beginning of the pandemic. He explained that once they were able to go to Alaska again, the crew followed strict quarantining and Covid-19 protocols.

They also adapted how they film, though—staying out in the Alaskan wilderness for 3 months at a time and recording 11 episodes in a row to maximize the production value of each trip. Litzinger told me that they tried to go deeper into the characters this season.

Every season and situation is different, but after multiple seasons he also wants to bring unique perspectives for the audience. This season they scaled back on the voiceover narration and opted to go with a refreshed documentary style that focuses on the individual subjects.

The audience hears from them firsthand rather than having information shared by a narrator. Previous seasons are available on Disney+ if you want to catch up. The new season of “Life Below Zero” premiers Monday, September 6 at 8pm Easter / 7pm Central..

Do they get paid on Life Below Zero?

How much does Life Below Zero pay?  – Each member of the Life Below Zero cast has a very different net worth. At the top are Sue Aiken and Jesse Holmes, who are worth an estimated $500,000. Next up is Andy Bassich, who has a net worth of $250,000. Glenn Villeneuve’s salary is reportedly $200,000 per year while Chip and Agnes Hailstone have an estimated $200,000 in the bank..

What happen to Kate on Life Below Zero?

Kate Rorke Bassich traded in Alaska for Canada As for Kate, the former co-star of ‘Life Below Zero’ moved away from the harsh Alaskan wilderness to Newfoundland in Canada, and appears to have moved on from her reality show days.

Is Andy Bassich still with Denise?

Who is Denise Becker? – Denise is a Life Below Zero cast member, survival expert and former Florida-based nurse. She is in a relationship with co-star Andy Bassich, who it was revealed she began dating several years ago. The Alaskan-based star previously worked as a trauma nurse.

How did Andy lose his leg on Life Below Zero?

What happened to Andy Bassich on Life Below Zero? – Andy Bassich suffered a life-threatening hip injury while living in Alaska. The reality TV star sustained the injury when he was moving a snow machine that was stuck in the snow. He addressed the accident last season, saying: “I ended up with two infections — one in the muscle, one in the bone — and it almost killed me.

“It’s time to get back to my home in Calico Bluff, play a little bit of catch up this summer with getting my dogs back down there, getting my house back in order. He added: “It’s been unmanned and unguarded for six months so I have no idea what kind of conditions I’m going to be walking into.

“It’s going to be challenging to get everything done using [crutches]. ”  Bassich had to leave Alaska and seek treatment in Florida and was accompanied by his girlfriend Denise.

What does the tattoo on Agnes Hailstone’s chin mean?

What does the tattoo on Agnes Hailstone’s chin mean? – According to a report published in Find Any Answer, Anges Hailstornes’ tattoo on the chin was given to her when she hit puberty. The tattoo was a sign of maturity and signified that she is hard working.

How old is Agnes Hailstone?

Agnes Hailstone’s Net Worth – According to reports, Chip and Agnes Hailstone have an estimated net worth of $100,000, largely thanks to the National Geographic show Life Below Zero. The Hailstones live by the Kobuk River in Noorvik, one of the most grueling places to live in the U.

Who is Agnes Hailstone on life below zero?

Who is Agnes Hailstone? – Reportedly born in 1972 (the same year Hurricane Agnes hit this U. ) in Noorvik, Alaska, Agnes Hailstone’s age is about 45. She is believed to come from a long like of Inupiaq Alaskan natives, who originated from the Thule culture and inhabited Alaska in 1000 B.

What is the meaning of the four lines tattooed below her lips?

The Meaning Of Agnes’ Chin Tattoo – Hailstone has four lines tattooed below her lips. The tattoo is common among Eskimo women. This out-of-the-norm tattoo holds a special meaning and represents her cultural belief. It was used to protect women during enemy raids.

  • Currently, it transmits to men that a woman has reached puberty and that she is available for marriage;
  • Note – there is strong evidence dating back almost 4,000 years of Inuit women bearing facial tattoos;

READ MORE: L. Hutton Net Worth.