Humans have been fond of decorating and changing their bodies for thousands — if not tens of thousands — of years. Ancient human remains have preserved evidence of various types of body modification. Practices we would recognize today, including tattooing and lip plugging, have been found in 5,000-year-old mummies, while traces of abandoned practices, like foot binding and head shaping, can be seen in skeletons from thousands of years ago.
Just as there are many reasons for modifying one’s body nowadays, there were likely many drivers in the past, such as inclusion in a group, expression of one’s individuality, and celebration of a life transition.
1. Head shaping
Also known as cranial vault modification, the practice of head shaping has been found throughout Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, and it may have even been performed by Neanderthals. Head shaping is an ancient practice in which a mother or other caregiver wrapped an infant’s head in soft bandages to encourage the skull bones to grow in a particular direction. Archaeologists have recovered numerous examples of shaped skulls, and several experts are working to understand the practice of head shaping and to figure out how far back it goes.
Some of the oldest evidence for head shaping comes from Jilin province in northeast China and from a cave in coastal Liguria, Italy. In both cases, skulls that are longer and narrower than average suggest head shaping occurred at least 12,000 years ago. Some of the many other cultures that have practiced head shaping include Stone Age people in France, Viking women on the Swedish island of Gotland, the Huns in Hungary and Croatia, pre-Hispanic people in Mexico and Argentina, early medieval Europeans and ancient Japanese people.
Today, some infants with plagiocephaly — a flat spot on the back of the head — wear helmets so their skulls will grow in a rounder shape.
2. Foot binding
More than 1,000 years ago in dynastic China, the practice of foot binding was taken up by the elite. This type of body modification involved tightly bandaging the feet of young girls so their bones would shift, creating extremely tiny-looking feet.
China tried to outlaw the practice several times in recent centuries because girls’ bones would break, and when healed, the girls faced difficulties walking in their special “lotus shoes.” Foot binding persisted in rural areas of China until about 1950, meaning there are likely still some Chinese women alive today whose feet were bound as a prerequisite for a “proper” marriage.
Although the practice of foot binding has disappeared, people today still subject their feet to awkward and uncomfortable shoes like extremely high heels for the sake of “beauty.”
3. Body piercings
Because most piercings are made in soft tissue, which does not preserve for very long after a person dies, archaeologists are not sure how far back this body modification practice goes. But some of the oldest known gold earrings, discovered in a cemetery in Varna, Bulgaria, date back to 4600 B.C.
Other evidence of ancient piercing techniques comes from the mummy known as Ötzi the Iceman, who was discovered high in the Italian Alps. Analysis of his body has revealed his earlobes were purposefully stretched, likely as a cultural practice, 5,300 years ago. It is unclear if he wore any plugs in his earholes, though.
And a recent study of 29,000-year-old skeletons found in the Czech Republic revealed that people as young as 10 years old had teeth that were worn down on the cheek side, likely from cheek piercings called labrets. Long-term use of these labrets resulted in flat spots on the people’s canines and bicuspids and caused their teeth to crowd together.
Although experts aren’t sure exactly when body piercing was invented, since piercings are extremely common today — about 84% of U.S. women have their ears pierced — they may have been common in the past as well.
4. Tattoos
Ötzi the Iceman also gives us the earliest evidence of ancient tattooing, a practice that has continued into the present. Many of Ötzi’s 61 tattoos, all of which are simple lines and dots, were placed over areas of the body where he likely had pain from arthritis and injuries, suggesting his tattoos may have been medicinal, similar to acupuncture. Two Egyptian mummies also have linear tattoos, revealing that the practice existed on at least two continents 5,000 years ago.
Tattooing kits dating to 2,700 years ago have been discovered in Polynesia, while highly decorative tattoos have been found on bodies of ancient Pazyryk people preserved in the Siberian permafrost for 2,300 years. In Africa, archaeologists have found Christian tattoos on children in Nubia and adults in Sudan. Rare examples of face tattoos have been found in the Andes as well.
Today, nearly 1 in 3 Americans has a tattoo, and some of us have accidental ones from childhood run-ins with pencils. But maybe think twice about tattooing your eyeball.
5. Neck rings
Neck stretching is much less common than piercing or tattooing. As a body modification practice in some African and Asian cultures, such as the Kayan people of Burma, neck stretching is done by placing an increasing number of stiff rings or coils around a girl’s neck. The practice doesn’t actually stretch the neck, though, at least not in terms of a change in the vertebrae. Rather, the rings push down the person’s collarbones and upper ribs, creating the illusion of an elongated neck, which is considered beautiful. When the rings are worn for several years, a person’s neck and upper back muscles can become weak, but targeted exercises can remedy that.
Only one potential archaeological example of neck stretching has been found. In an 11th-century cemetery in what is now Ukraine, archaeologists excavated the skeletons of several women who were buried with an elaborate set of neck rings. Experts are unsure if the rings were from neck stretching, but they interpreted the discovery as an indicator of social status.
6. Dental modifications
Today’s dentistry often aims to prevent tooth decay and alleviate the pain of cavities or infected jawbones. The earliest evidence that ancient people fixed their teeth comes from Lucca in northern Italy. About 13,000 years ago, a person’s top two incisors were drilled and a tar-like substance was inserted. Artificial teeth used as implants have been found in the mouths of an Egyptian from 5,500 years ago and a Celt from 2,400 years ago. And gold dental work has been discovered in remains from 14th-century Greece and 17th-century France.
But people have also been modifying their teeth for cosmetic purposes for nearly as long. While many of the cosmetic dental treatments people get today are aimed at making their teeth straighter and whiter, that hasn’t always been the beauty ideal.
For nearly 5,000 years, people in Taiwan practiced dental ablation, which is the purposeful removal of otherwise healthy teeth, as it was thought to be aesthetically pleasing. And 500 years ago in Gabon in west central Africa, people deliberately removed their top front teeth. In ancient Vietnam, archaeologists discovered that people rubbed their teeth with a paste containing iron to blacken them more than 2,000 years ago. Some experts think tooth blackening was developed as a less-extreme version of dental ablation. The pre-Hispanic Maya often blinged out the teeth of kids with small, round pieces of jade, possibly as a rite of passage into adulthood. And in Scandinavia, the Vikings used an iron file to produce grooves on the top front teeth, perhaps as a kind of group identification or initiation rite.
7. Corseting
Many modern women look at the practice of corseting as a remnant of the Victorian era, when women tight-laced their torsos to produce a fashionable hourglass figure with a waist just 22 inches (56 centimeters) in diameter, on average.
A 2020 study of female skeletons from France and England revealed that some women’s bones were permanently modified from extremely tight corseting, resulting in the deformation of ribs and the protruding parts of the vertebrae. Corseting, particularly when started in childhood before a person’s bones were fully formed, was a lifelong commitment for many women.
This practice is still around today, but it is usually called waist training. It also involves much more forgiving materials than Victorian boned corsets, such as spandex to hug the midsection and temporarily change its shape.
8. Scarification
Another form of skin modification is scarification, or the purposeful creation of cuts that form permanent designs when scarred over. Scarification, also known as cicatrization, may be as old as the delicate bone tools that could be used to make clean cuts 12,000 years ago, some experts believe. But the practice is better known from modern cultural groups such as the Surma people, who live in South Sudan and Ethiopia, and among some Aboriginal Australians. The reasons behind scarification vary depending on the cultural group, but it has been used over the centuries as a form of group identity, a beautification tool and a rite of passage.
9. Castration
One of the more extreme forms of body modification is castration, or the removal of the testicles. Surgical castration of humans goes back at least 3,000 years, and eunuchs — men whose testicles had been removed — are mentioned in historical records from a number of cultures, including ancient Rome, pharaonic Egypt, the Ottoman Empire and the Qing dynasty. Eunuchs often served as royal guards or government officials in antiquity, but the practice lasted into the 18th century, when some choir boys — castrati — were castrated before their voices changed in puberty to preserve their high singing voices.
But either because the practice was rare or because archaeologists aren’t used to looking for skeletal changes associated with castration, very few examples have been found to date. Two skeletons with features consistent with eunuchs were discovered in Roman-era Egypt, but it is unclear if they were eunuchs or intersex.
Two studies of the skeletons of known castrati — opera singers Farinelli (1705-1782) and Pacchierotti (1740-1821) — offer the best evidence for what castration does to a skeleton and how archaeologists might be able to identify eunuchs in the future. Both men’s skeletons revealed widespread osteoporosis and longer-than-average limb bones resulting from the hormonal effects of castration. Farinelli also had a thickened skull bone that is commonly seen in postmenopausal women, likely also the result of his prepubertal castration.
While castration to create eunuchs is no longer a regularly practiced body modification, orchiectomies are still done today, most often to treat or prevent cancer.
