Menu
Piercing Origins
Piercing origins are well debated in the piercing world as body piercings and modification have become increasingly popular in the west over the last 70 years or so with many “tall tales” that have been told along the way. But where did it all begin? The short answer is nobody is entirely sure, the why is a bit of a mixed bag as well, some cultures used them as a statement of wealth as only they could afford precious metals and gem stones, others were part of ritual ceremonies. Its come along way over the last few thousand years… see below!
This post will cover piercings in general rather than specific piercing origins which will be covered at later dates 😉
The oldest pair of earrings to be found dates back to approximately 2500 BCE in the Sumerian city of Ur. Earrings have also been found in a grave in the Ukok region between Russia and China dated between 400 and 300 BCE but better yet the earliest mummified remains to be discovered (Otzi the Iceman) were found to be wearing earrings approximately 7-11mm in diameter in a glacier in Italy …so there’s 5000 years of piercing history off the bat. We cant safely say he invented the ear tunnel / plug but were pretty sure he was a cool guy …no pun intended.
Various cultures and tribes documented over the millennia have worn jewellery in some form with earrings being the most common, from Egyptians wearing dangling gold hoops (available in our store here) whilst gem studded earrings were reserved for the elite. The Ancient Greeks preferred pendant styles and as styles changed as it spread across Europe to the Roman Empire where gemstone ear studs became popular (if one had the hollar dollar).
Tribal cultures of Africa, the Americas & South Pacific islands such as Papua New Guinea wore Labrets and practised lip stretching and later the Aztecs and Mayans were using tongue piercings in rituals before rapidly disappearing from the Amazon Basin and Central America.
However all the practices over time of many people and cultures have survived mostly intact though piercing popularity in the west declined until post world war 2 and was significantly boosted in the 1960’s & 70’s where it was embraced by the punk generation which leads us to now where over 10% of people over the age of 16 in the UK admit to having a body piercing or modification other than earrings/studs.
We hope you guys continue to be as interesting and unique as we all have been over the last 5000+ years so we can keep bringing you the latest and greatest piercings!
Piercings in a nutshell then… Feel free to drop us a comment and we will get back to you 🙂 PEACE OUT!
