The recent history of piercing practices in Europe and North America

Across continents, material evidence of body piercing jewelry abounds in the archeological record. However, the varying procedures and processes of piercing, healing, and stretching these wounds for adornment remains unfamiliar to most archeologists. This PowerPoint presentation discusses the early self-experimentations that led to the development of the Euro-American body piercing industry. From the late 19th throughout the 20th centuries shared personal correspondence, illustrations, and photographs document the adaptations, innovations, successes, and failures that came to coalesce a current community’s collective knowledge. Understanding the processes of these secretive explorations provides insights into many of the cross-cultural practices of the past for which no clear records remain.