THE TRADITIONS OF TATTOOING AMONG THE PEOPLES OF NORTHERN PACIFICA IN THE ETHNOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF THE XIX  EARLY XX CENTURIES

The tattoos are a vivid artistic form and expressive means of cultural, social identity of peoples. It is the earliest forms of art, and it is popular at the present time. The relevance of the topic is due to the continuing interest of a person in decorating his body by applying various signs on it - the drawings that have a certain meaning. The interest in this topic in the scientific community is great – the data has been introduced since the archaeological discoveries up to modern experiments. The origin, purpose and meaning of tattoos on the body of the peoples of the North Pacific remained out of researchers’ sight. The purpose of this study is to identify the features of tattoos among the peoples of Northern Pacific in the works of researchers of the XVIII - early XX centuries. In the study, we used ethnographic descriptions containing the information about tattoos obtained directly as a result of observing the peoples of the North Pacific, and interpretation that allowed us to understand their content. The source base consisted of the works of S. Krasheninnikov, Y. Lindenau, V. Bogoraz, V. Iokhelson, K. Merk, S. Rudenko, E. Orlova who studied the culture of the peoples of the North. It was revealed that the drawings on the body were intended both for protection from diseases, evil spirits, enemies, infertility, and for attractiveness. In some cases, tattoos were the signs of victory over the enemy. The main type of ornament are simple geometric figures, stylized anthropomorphic and zoomorphic elements took place. The methods of tattooing were "embroidery» puncture. Materials such as deer wool, coal, ash, animal fat and veins, fish and bird bones were used. The results obtained will help to understand the features of the material culture, determine the semantics of tattoos, and reconstruct the features of the Pacific region ancient population symbolic behavior.