Exploring Sacred Ink: Tattooing, Identity, and Belonging

Interrogating a rich array of archaeological, textual, and visual sources, Exploring Sacred Ink reveals how tattooing and sacredness are intertwined, from the ancient world to the present. This interdisciplinary volume highlights the diverse motivations for inscribing the sacred onto the body: as an attestation of the bearer’s servitude to the divine; an affirmation of belonging to a faith community; an expression of deeply held (magico-)religious beliefs; or a sign of reverence toward holy places, people, languages, symbols, and texts. It further demonstrates that sacredness is not only made visible on the skin itself but can also encompass the spirituality attributed to the tattooing process or the spiritual perception of an otherwise secular tattoo. Spanning religious and secular frameworks and cultures of both the Old and New Worlds, this volume offers a compelling resource for readers engaged in the study of body modification and embodiment.