CARTA Glossary

1. To heat and then cool (as steel or glass) usually for softening and making less brittle; also: to cool slowly, usually in a furnace. 2. To strengthen, toughen.

A notation for the Gregorian calendar. BCE 1 precedes immediately before 1 CE with no intervening year zero.

The study of human remains in their archaeological context.

Jewelry designed and manufactured specifically for use in piercings.

1. The act of perforating, or piercing, the tissue of the body, including the ear, and inserting an ornament into the opening. 2. A perforation in the tissue of the body and the wearing of an ornament in the opening. 3. Common usage: The perforation itself. E.g., “I changed the jewelry in my piercing.” 4. Common usage: The ornament that is worn in a perforation of the tissue. More accurately described as piercing jewelry, body piercing jewelry, or body jewelry. E.g., “My piercing fell out.”

A type of tough, fibrous, elastic connective tissue that is rich in polysaccharides and with no nerve or blood supply of its own. There are two types of cartilage piercers routinely deal with: 1) Auricular: Cartilage of the pinna (external ear), and 2) Alar: Cartilage of the tip and sides of the nose (nostrils).

A Mayan city in Yucatan that rose to regional prominence after 800 CE.

The cutting and removal of all or part of the externally protruding glans of the clitoris. Also called Type 1 female genital modification. See also, excision.

A procedure (often medically performed) to partially open an infibulation for easier passage of urine and menses, intercourse, and childbirth.

The deliberate, permanent alteration of one or more teeth.

An incision to the male foreskin above the glans. Synonymous with superincision.

A person who pierces using an ear-piercing gun. Sometimes referred to as a technician by the device manufacturers.

1. A tissue consisting of one or more layers of compactly joined cells of various types and sizes that cover a surface or line a cavity. 2. Pertaining to or involving the outer layer of the skin. Also called ‘epithelium.’

A fibrous connective tissue forming a membrane that covers, supports, and separates muscles. Fascia also unites the skin with underlying tissue.

A collective term for all non-medically indicated procedures involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs.

Microorganisms including bacteria, protozoa, and fungi that are found on or in specific areas of the body.

The act of piercing without the use of forceps.

Slang term for body jewelry, especially plugs or tunnels worn in stretched ear piercings. 

The deliberate, permanent alteration of the male (penis, testicles) or female (vulva) genitals.

A type of lithic industry featuring a backed bladelet specific to the coasts of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia dating between 25,000 and 11,000 years ago.

In piercing, the act of putting jewelry into an existing pierced channel, often with the aid of an insertion taper.

The lengthening of the inner or outer labia through a regimen of pulling and stretching, often with herbs. Formerly included in the World Health Organization (WHO) typology of female genital modifications. Also known as “labia minora elongation,” or LME.

A flowering plant of the Asparagaceae family that is native to Mexico and the United States (Texas). It is commonly used for ornamentation in arid climates due to its drought tolerance, in cuisine and distilling (tequila), as medicine, and to make ropes, nets, bags, cloth, and paper.

The term used to refer to (1) a group of indigenous languages spoken from Mexico to Honduras and El Salvador; (2) the people who speak those languages, considered as an ethnic group; (3) the archaeological culture of the ancestors of the contemporary speakers of Maya languages.

A commercial or homemade tool designed to assist or perform the actual piercing of the tissue.

The ethnic group that composed Aztec society in central Mexico during the 16th century CE.

An involuntary, permanent alteration of the body.

An archaeological culture of the Neolithic Levant dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago that was sedentary or semi-sedentary prior to the introduction of agriculture.

A 48km ravine in the Great Rift Valley in Tanzania that was occupied by hominins such as Homo habilis (1.9 mya) and Zinjanthropus (Australopithecus) boisei (1.8 mya). Today, Oldupai Gorge is an important paleoanthropological site and has been under excavation since 1913, most famously by Mary and Louis Leakey. “Oldupai” is the Maasai word for “the place of the wild sisal.”

Foreign objects embedded beneath the skin of the penis.

1. The deliberate creation of a hole in the skin and/or flesh, often to hold an ornament such as an earring. 2. perforation itself. (e.g., “I changed the jewelry in my piercing”). 4. The ornament that is worn in a perforation of the tissue. More accurately described as piercing jewelry, body piercing jewelry, or body jewelry. (e.g., “My piercing fell out”).

Ritual pricking of the prepuce or clitoris to draw a drop of blood. This is sometimes used as a substitute by those seeking to maintain a custom in a minimal way that does not leave lasting damage.

Resuturing or tightening of an infibulation scar, particularly after childbirth, for restoring vaginal tightness.

1. A type of body piercing in which a tiny ornament is inserted into a single opening that is formed in the tissue. This opening is the entrance as well as the exit. 2. The body jewelry used in such a piercing.

In terms of body piercing, “stretching” describes the enlargement method of a sufficient force, passively or actively, that triggers a genetic cellular response to produce more cells resulting in an enlargement of the piercing fistula and growth in the immediate area’s connected skin tissue.

“Cutting above.” An incision to the male foreskin above the glans. Synonymous with dorsal slit.

The location of a settlement of Tlaxcaltecs, opponents of the Mexica in central Mexico.

The term “tool-assisted piercing” is only needed when contrasting and comparing to “free-hand piercing” methods. While the syntagm explicitly includes the use of any tools during a piercing procedure, the implied emphasis is actually more concerning the distinction of using forceps.