Tribal Tattoo Designs

In this tattoo crazy world, tattoo designs have seen variations in forms and designs from the earlier days till date. Tattoos in all shapes and sizes have known to adorn the bodies of males as well as females alike. The early days saw the use of tribal tattoo designs for various reasons. Today, tattoos are used as a form of decoration or to create a strong fashion statement. The first tribal tattoo designs were unplanned and happened due to particular circumstances. It is known that the first tribal tattoo had occurred because of a fall into the fire where a charred stick penetrated the skin and left a mark forever. Tribal tattoo designs were also used by people to ‘mark’ themselves so that they could belong to a particular tribe. This was also used to express certain religious and magical beliefs. The origins of the tribal art tattoos were rooted in the cave paintings.

The oldest tattooed body is of a Bronze Age man who died over 5000 years ago. This body was found frozen, intact in an Italian glazier. Most tribal art tattoos resemble works of art and are used to express personal beliefs and convey traditions. The ancient way of tattooing the body involved using a needle that was attached to a stick. This was repeatedly tapped into the skin. Skin ornamentation was therefore an ancient art, practiced years ago. It is also known that these tribal tattoo designs were used as means of camouflaging the body with the environment. Every tribe or culture used various tribal tattoo designs that have different meanings and beliefs as per the pattern drawn.

Tribal Tattoo Designs -Tribal Art Tattoos

Tribal tiger tattoos are common and one of the most popular forms even today. The tiger is a very powerful symbol and is a very well loved image in Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, India, China, Japan and Malaysia. The tiger is basically associated with great power, beauty, speed and even ferocious behavior. There are various reasons why one may use tribal tiger tattoo designs, it could be to sport a symbol of power or it could be for religious reasons.

Tribal butterfly tattoos are especially popular with women. Such tattoos had different myths attached to it. The psyche is represented with butterfly wings in the Greek mythology. Augustus, the Roman Emperor had adopted the butterfly as his personal symbol. The Chinese use the butterfly as a symbol of marital bliss. The reasons and the stories associated with the form of the tribal butterfly tattoo may be plenty, but it sure remains an attractive design till date.


Tribal dragon tattoos are always in demand because of the design and form. These can symbolize different meanings, which would also depend upon the form used. As per the old folk tales, the kings used the dragons to guard the treasures; which were hidden in the caves. It was also rumored that only those who could overpower the dragons could obviously claim the treasures. This sometimes even posed a problem to the kings as well! The kings also found it difficult to access their treasure with these dragons around. Dragons are also known to symbolize the 4 elements-Air, water, earth and fire. Warriors in the Roman and Greek empires used the dragon as a symbol of terror. Fires breathing dragons or basic tribal dragon tattoo designs are used to denote magic, nobility, loyalty, power and are used by people who wish to portray themselves beyond the ordinary.

The Haida tribes lived in the North West coast of America. Here, the tribal bear tattoos and the designs that used the fish and forms of beavers were predominant in that era. The tribal fish tattoos are very ancient and have a deep symbolic meaning. This design also plays an important part in the ancient Chinese and Japanese myths. Apart from this the fish also is a symbol for the Pisces sign of zodiac.

There are many such tribal art tattoo designs that were used by ancient tribes apart from the ones listed above. Dog tattoos, birds, interlaced designs, flowers and even shark teeth were widely used and are popular even till date.