Therapeutic tattooing in the Arctic: Ethnographic, archaeological, and ontological frameworks of analysis

Publication date: Available online 13 June 2018Source: International Journal of PaleopathologyAuthor(s): Lars KrutakAbstractThis essay describes the potential for using ethnographic evidence and mummified tattooed skin to reflect on past therapeutic tattoo practice in the Arctic. It also considers the ways in which circumpolar concepts of disease emerged in relation to the agency of nonhuman entities. I argue that specific forms of curative tattooing offer interpretive models for the paleopathological and bioarchaeological study of care through an ontological framework of analysis.

Source: International Journal of Paleopathology - July 10, 2018 Category: Pathology Source Type: research