Polynesian Tattooing

by Alan Taylor

One highly sophisticated art form from ancient Polynesia that has been widely disseminated and imitated throughout the world is that of body tattooing. Tattoo (from the Tahitian tatau) was one of the few cultural traits that the European and Americans adopted after contact with Pacific peoples. The tradition of Polynesian tattoo has its origins in the ancient "Lapita"culture of Melanesia and southeast Asia. Dating from about 3,000B.C., the initial settlements into the Pacific were achieved by Lapita voyagers remarkable for their advanced maritime technology and distinctive culture which was carried first to Tonga and later to Samoa. From here, it spread throughout the rest of the Pacific.

Paperback

First published December 15, 1981

About the author

Alan Shaw Taylor is a historian specializing in early American history. He is the author of a number of books about colonial America, the American Revolution, and the Early American Republic. He has won a Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize for his work.

Taylor graduated from Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, in 1977 and earned his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1986. Currently a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, he will join the faculty of the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia in 2014.