How Tattoos Were Invented... Probably

Have you ever wondered where tattoos came from? I mean, who had the bright idea to put ink under their skin? According to Wikipedia, tattooing goes back at least 5,000 years, and appears to be an ancient practice in many far-flung parts of the world. So it either arose independently in many different cultures, or it is so ancient that we'll never know its origins. You have to imagine many different "inventors" who all had the idea to embed their decorations painfully underneath the surface so they didn't wash off. Tattoos were important for a variety of reasons- to mark who belonged to a community, to identify a person as a hero or a criminal, or to mark the passage into adulthood. Over time, they became a cultural mark of accomplishment or a personal preference.  

Ryan George, on the other hand, takes a more modern look at what was going through the head of the first guy who decided to tattoo his skin. In this scenario, it makes no sense at all.