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TATTOOING AND THE ORIGINS OF ACUPUNCTURE
Anthony Campbell
The origins of acupuncture are unknown. There has been speculation that
it may have developed from observation of arrow wounds received in
battle, but this seems intuitively unlikely, since the trauma of the
wound would probably obscure any incidental symptomatic relief of
pre-existing symptoms. Another, more plausible, idea has been put
forward by Kuriyama(1): acupuncture may have developed from the practice
of bloodletting, which was used in ancient China as well as in Europe.
Kuriyama says that the method was more sophisticated than is generally
realized; different sites were used for different symptoms and this, he
claims, could have provided a basis for discovering specific
therapeutic effects of local needling.
It has occurred to me that another scenario could be the development of
acupuncture from tattooing. Tattooing has been practised in most
pre-technological societies and may indeed be a near-universal human
activity, going back to Neolithic times. It does not seem intuitively
unlikely that it would on occasion have provided relief from
pre-existing pain and that this would have led to its being specifically
used for that purpose.
Unfortunately, there is no way of verifying ideas of this kind, but
possible supporting evidence comes from the discovery of tattoo marks in
the lumbar region on the so-called Ice Man discovered recently in the
Austro-Italian Alps who died some 5300 years ago. It has been suggested
that these marks were made in order to relieve back pain. If so, this
would be an instance of therapeutic tattooing performed outside China at
a remote era, and it would tend to favour the view that a similar
practice could have arisen in China. The so-called acupuncture needles
found in tombs in China could equally well be tattooing needles.
Iceman
Tattoo marks on back of Iceman
Note added 30 August 2004
A possible objection to this theory is that tattooing is not normally
carried out today as a therapeutic procedure, yet a lot of people,
including me, think that it is generally necessary for patients to
expect to be treated if acupuncture is to work. A purely
decorative procedure might therefore not be very effective in relieving
symptoms. However, I am grateful to D. Moyshe Kalman for the following
comment.
If, in antiquity, the tattooing was preformed as a ritualistic
act initially to heal a problem, such as a shaman or priest
tattooing a bad knee with a symbolic picture to attract some
healing power, the initial act would have been perceived as
therapeutic and over the years could easily have led to the
invention of acupuncture. Tattooing is absolutely forbidden by
the Hebrew Scriptures as a heathen practice, which indicates
that in antiquity it was viewed as a ritual act rather than a
cosmetic act. Body piercing in the nose or ears is not forbidden
and is seen as a purely cosmetic act. I think this strongly
confirms your link with tattooing and the origins of
acupuncture.
Reference
(1)Kuriyama S (1999). The
expressiveness of the body and the divergence of Greek and Chinese
Medicine. Zone Books, New York
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