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Interesting comment: >The men, he observed, were tattooed with dark-green figures "from fingernails to neck. I wonder what these tattoos represent and why the

• 082349872349872 6y ago
  Some wild guesses: representation would be one's identity. Maori are supposed to have used depictions of their moko[1] as equivalents to signatures among us, and I can imagine it would be helpful for traders to be able to describe their agent, several months away, by their tattoos instead of relying on personal introductions. As to being heavily tattooed, I'd imagine it implied an elite status proof-of-work. It takes several sessions with a cooperative artist to do a full body tattoo, and if one "doesn't deserve" the body art, that leaves a large window during which poseurs would be liable to retributive violence from the legit. Then again, maybe they just enjoyed body art. For instance, I could easily imagine a Rus tattooing a new islamic dome (albeit in green instead of golden[2]) for every season they spent trading, far away from home. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kwIkF6LFDc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kwIkF6LFDc [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpuBgLBrhfo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpuBgLBrhfo