Download or read book Piercing Encyclopedia written by Radomir Fiksa and published by Radomír Fiksa. This book was released on 2023-11-05 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The practice of inserting sharp objects into the skin or other body parts for beautification or other purposes is thousands of years old. The oldest mummy discovered in Egypt had a pierced ear. Ancient African civilizations had habits of piercing their lips and tongues. The oldest evidence of facial piercing was discovered in 2020 on the skeleton of a man who lived about 12,000 years ago. Ear piercing has been common throughout history. Often used for spiritual protection, people wore metal on their ears to prevent evil spirits from entering the brain through the ear canal. Ancient African tribes and the Egyptians also practiced body modification through earlobe stretching, as did people in Asia. This practice among royalty is evident on the death mask of the young Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, as well as on statues of the Buddha, where his earlobes reach almost to his shoulders. Nose piercing is probably more than 4000 years old in the Middle East and was often offered as a gift and is still a tradition among some African tribes. In India, nose piercing was done for a completely different reason. The jewel is usually worn in the left nostril of a woman. In Ayurveda, the traditional Indian approach to health and well-being, the spot on the left nostril is associated with the female reproductive organs, and piercing here is believed to facilitate childbirth.