Scarification In Australia

The history of scarification is an ancient tradition of cutting the skin in a specific way and manipulating the cut to form a scar, usually attempting to form a keloid scar, which is when the scar is raised. It is unclear as to when scarification originated, but it is generally thought to be as old as tattooing, which potentially dates back over 10,000years. Scarification is most prevalent in Indigenous Africans and Australians, as tattoos would not show as clearly on darker skin, and instead led to scarification being the main form of body modification. Most scarification result within individual tribes and families, and therefore it is important to note that scarification differs greatly around the world, and no two tribes are the same, and even scarring within a singular tribe can differ from person to person. For that matter,

First I’m going to look at the many potential meanings behind scarification, and to begin with in Australia. When the first European explorers came to Australia and noticed the scars on the indigenous population, for the most part they simply brushed it off as brutish, savage behaviour with no meaning, that of which they expected from them. However, the few who did look into it, discovered that there were deeper and more significant reasons behind them. Scarification can be used to signify a number of things, in both Australian and African cultures, showing social status and values, spiritual and religious rituals and protection, tribal and family marks, identification, decoration and marks of beauty, medicinal purposes, and generally to signify important life events. In Australia, one of the most common meanings behind scarification was to mark a person coming of age. Generally, scarification was not done on children or teenagers, and so the first scar one would receive would show the beginning of their adulthood. These were done once a person