Tribal Tattoos at Papua New Guinea

The Papua New Guinea Tribal Tattoos picture is courtesy of djringer from flickr.
Lars Krutak wrote about Papua New Guinea tattoos on vanishingtattoo.com. He claimed that among the Motu, Waima, Aroma, Hula, Mekeo, Mailu before WWII women of these tribes had tattoos all over the body, while men had tattoos on their chest indicating successful headhunting. After WWII tattooing almost disappeared.

Girls from five to seven years old had tattoos on their hands. Older Girls had facial tattoos and on lower abdomen down to the knees. Older Girls had tattoos on armpits and throat. Later, at puberty, the back was tattooed. Before marriage V shapes were tattooed down the neck. A girl without all these tattoos could not get married.

As a needle they used a lemon branch twig. Pigment came from candlenut.

Book: Tribal Tattoo Designs from Indonesia by M. Hesselt van Dinter