Chapter 2
Piercing Past and Present

From the prehistoric era to the present, piercing of the ear and body has been a part of the human tradition of permanent body decoration. Museums are full of historical ear ornaments from every part of the world, made from the most mundane materials to the truly precious (though sometimes they are mislabeled as children’s toys). We can better appreciate the uniqueness and diversity of modern body piercing by acknowledging the ways humans have pierced themselves in the past.

Historical Inaccuracy
Unfortunately, documentation about the history of body piercing is scant, often sensationalized, and filled with inaccuracies. Archeological relics reveal little, since pierced flesh has usually long since vanished into dust. Only durable jewelry and a few rare finds of preserved human remains tell the tale. References to body piercing in written records are scarce, and scholarly interpretations are often contradictory. One source says that traditional nostril piercings worn by Indian women are a sign of beauty and status; another, that it is meant to induce submissiveness in women. These inconsistencies may demonstrate that motivations for piercing are multifaceted, and that they change over time. Further, no researcher or historian is capable of recording anything without his personal bias affecting his work.

Anthropologists have only recently treated body decoration with any seriousness. Clarifying the history of body piercing is even more difficult because many of the more colorful stories about its origins were entirely fabricated by an influential early modern enthusiast. These urban myths became widely circulated and were repeated until they were considered “facts.” Almost every mention of piercing history—even the most scholarly—reiterates some of the fictitious accounts. See sidebar on Doug Malloy.

Since the focus of The Piercing Bible is on helping the consumer with day-to-day piercing questions and concerns, it is beyond the scope of this book to provide a detailed historical study of body piercing. The emphasis of this chapter is on the development of the modern piercing industry in the late twentieth century. Therefore, only a brief overview of what is reliably known about piercing in the ancient world and in modern tribal societies is presented. . . .

On to Chapter 3

To a brief summary of each chapter