EASTER ISLAND
TATTOOS


Figure 32 - Tattooing comb and tattooed face designs: a, tattooing combs of bird bone: 1, comb 75 mm. long lashed at right angles to a handle 203 mm. long with white tapa bound round in a ball and then lashed with thin thread ; 2, comb with six teeth, slight constriction below knob, 88 mm. long, 8 mm. wide at lower end (Mus. f. Völkerkunde, Vienna) ; b, tattooing of woman's face ( from Lavachery, 134, p. 256) ; c, tattooing of man's face, vertical stripes on forehead given human form by ading dot at upper end of tapering body and bent arms at side ( from Stolpe, 214, fig. 4).



Figure 34 - Tattooing motifs (from Stolpe, 214, figs 15-21) : a, neck, chest, and abdomen designs; b, neck design, stylized bird with head pointed down and bordered by pairs of curved lines ; c, upper part of thigh, parallel lines, some of them converging ; d, back, orange-colored bands alternating with rows of dots ; e, leg just below knee ; f, hip, bird's beak joined to two concentric rings.


-Alfred Metraux , Ethnology of Easter Island . 1971 . Bishop Museum Bulletin 160.
- Courtesy of Georgia Lee.

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