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Amazigh tattoo motifs (documented) · 39 signs

Real traditional Amazigh/Libyan tattoo motifs, redrawn by hand from documented sources (Bates 1914; Rivière & Faublée 1942; Westermarck 1926; Gobert 1924; dated photographs) — not invented by a model. Hover for region, placement, meaning and source.

This script is not in Unicode, so each sign was drawn from published sign tables. Hover a sign for its reading, the source it was drawn from, and where scholars disagree.

Libyan "Neith-sign" tattoo · Bates identifies it with the hieroglyph/emblem of the goddess Neith and suggests wearers were under her protection; he rejects Lefébure's theory that it was a brand for captives. Bates' identification, not a Libyan statement. Bertholon (1904) notes an elongated cross-hatched quadrilateral recurs in modern Tunisian arm/leg tattoos (a parallel he draws, speculative as to continuity). Libyan "Neith-sign" tattoo, chevron-foot · As for the Neith-sign (Bates' identification). Libyan rectangle with sawtooth triangles · Bates: possibly a variant of the Neith-sign, "accidental or significant". Libyan chief's shoulder tattoo: four dot · not documented Libyan chief's torso tattoo: vertical co · not documented Libyan chief's side tattoo: vertical ser · not documented Temehu chiefs' instep lozenge · not documented Libyan rayed/hatched cross with central · Bates elsewhere speaks of "sun-emblems" among the marks; he calls the elements of Fig. 52 "typically neolithic" in character. No attested meaning. Libyan tattoo elements · Bates: "so simple that it is dangerous to try... to relate them to extra-African origins"; some may be the Egyptian artist's invention. ter (Chaoui Tamazight) · Name ter = sparrowhawk ("l'épervier"); authors suggest it may evoke the bird's footprint (legend Fig. 14: "la croix (qui figure l'empreinte de la patte de l'oiseau de proie)"). As ahajam, a forehead cross is given to women/children when siblings or children have died young, and for sterility/impotence. Rivière & Faublée: ahajam = protective/healing tattoo, traced with a knife, ideally by a man who has killed someone; used for headache, stomach pain, rheumatism (on joints), sore throat (on forehead), wounds, fever, eye trouble, sterility, impotence; accepted even by the pious. aɛalao (burnous) · Decorative lušam. Rivière & Faublée (fieldwork 1935-37, Uled Abderrahman and wider Aurès): lušam = decorative tattoo, needle-pricked and rubbed with antimony (hazult) and crushed green wheat; 'uniquement décoratif'. Unmarried/divorced dancers (azria) said forehead lušam is ornament, those on cheeks and chin 'attract kisses', those on the leg 'attract the eye'. Disapproved of by pious groups (Si Ali Musa). Westermarck linked this design to the Punic "sign of Tanit"; the authors caution against such European interpretations. aɛalao + iri mulram · Decorative lušam (see aɛalao). Complete face décor · Legend: "Les trois spécimens du haut sont des décors complets de face" — the source does not map each element to a facial zone. Decorative face motif ending in the five · Legend: decorative, "terminé en bas par les cinq doigts de la main protectrice. Il figure dans le décor complet de la face." Authors consider the hand of Fatma (khamset) exceptional and foreign to Chaoui tradition. tajrit (palm); related tanaɛast · Decorative lušam (cheek/chin lušam "attract kisses" per azria informants). As ahajam, a palm is tattooed on the calf of a sterile woman who dreamed a mule kicked her. tajrit / tanaɛast variant · Decorative lušam. izi, pl. izan · izi = the fly. (Gobert 1924 read the fly as a degenerate fish image — his hypothesis.) heitelfut · heitelfut = "l'œil du jour" (the sun). Decorative lušam. iri mulram · iri mulram = "the camel's neck". œils de perdrix (French gloss; Tamazight term not given) · Legend: "Sur la main, losanges dits œils de perdrix". ahajam · Legend: "patte de lièvre". Medical/protective. A Uled Daud woman whose children were dying had a vertical line marked on her forehead. Rivière & Faublée: ahajam = protective/healing tattoo, traced with a knife, ideally by a man who has killed someone; used for headache, stomach pain, rheumatism (on joints), sore throat (on forehead), wounds, fever, eye trouble, sterility, impotence; accepted even by the pious. ahajam · Legend: "patte de coq". Rivière & Faublée: ahajam = protective/healing tattoo, traced with a knife, ideally by a man who has killed someone; used for headache, stomach pain, rheumatism (on joints), sore throat (on forehead), wounds, fever, eye trouble, sterility, impotence; accepted even by the pious. ahajam · Legend: "œil de coq". Rivière & Faublée: ahajam = protective/healing tattoo, traced with a knife, ideally by a man who has killed someone; used for headache, stomach pain, rheumatism (on joints), sore throat (on forehead), wounds, fever, eye trouble, sterility, impotence; accepted even by the pious. ahajam · "Les motifs circulaires entourent une grosseur pour la faire disparaître" — drawn round a lump to make it disappear. lušam (men's) · Decorative, to make the arm look elegant while playing; authors: "moins traditionnels" than women's lušam. Nose-tip tattoo of an Aït Youssi lad · Placed by Westermarck among "five"/hand-derived charms against the evil eye; no informant meaning recorded for this design. Nose tattoo of Aït Youssi women · As Fig. 58 (Westermarck's evil-eye context; no informant meaning recorded). "Eye and eyebrow" mark above the bridge · Westermarck's interpretation: a conventionalised eye (dot) and eyebrow (angle) against the evil eye. His reading, not an informant statement. Ticked chevron with arrow stem · Westermarck groups it with the eye/eyebrow type (his interpretation). Ticked chevron over a lozenge chain · Westermarck groups it with the eye/eyebrow type (his interpretation). Curved-brow arch with barred stem · Westermarck: the curved eyebrow form of the eye/eyebrow type (his interpretation). Small cross · Aït Warain informant: a nose cross was tattooed in infancy because his two elder brothers died soon after birth — a way to preserve a child's life; the same charm may go under the lips instead. A forefinger cross was considered "hateful to God". Westermarck treats the cross as an evil-eye charm. Small vertical line on the nose tip · Same context as the small cross (child-survival / evil-eye charm per Westermarck). Single chin line · not documented (the photo record gives no meaning). Popular sources call chin tattoos "siyala" and link them to womanhood/fertility; not verified in the scholarly sources read here. Forehead column of stacked cross-bars · not documented Cheek four-pointed star · not documented Palm tree · Gobert's Fig. 10 is titled "Le palmier et ses dérivés" — the palm and its derivatives. Palm derivative · Classed by Gobert as a derivative of the palm. Winged dotted lozenge · Classed by Gobert as a derivative of the palm.