Tribal tattoos, are a curious blend of styles and ideas. (Common misspellings - tatu, tatoo, tattoe and tatto).

Add a dash of Native American Design, one part of South Pacific Islands, throw in a healthy dose of abstract design - and voila, you've got a tribal tattoo.

Now, take any and all of those elements, add in portraiture, realism or new style tattooing, and you still have a tribal tattoo.

(Native American Tribal, Abstract Tribal with Face and South Pacific Totem with Abstract Tribal Tattoos)

Some South Pacific natives used tattoos to communicate their status within their communities. Your tattoo denoted that you were a hunter, a warrior who has killed in battle or, the leader of the community. So, what seemed to be an abstract design had actual meaning.

(Which is why some people were so outraged at Mike Tyson's facial tattoo. It was a little too close to the real thing. Some felt the design copied the Maori designation for a warrior and Tyson stepped over a cultural line. I think Tyson's tattoos directly reflect who he thinks he is and what's important to him.)

Throw Native American tribal design into the mix. Feathers, horned animals, simplified designs of things occurring in nature were added to the tribal category.

In modern tattooing, tribal is an abstract design, usually in black. With more and more women getting tribal tattoos, you find the abstract slightly softened. Flowers, animal skin, all sorts of additions have been made to tribal tattoos.

Again and again the design elements that go into tribal tattoos have been expanded.

(Lower Back Tribal Tattoos on Women)

For Tribal Designs on this site go Tribal Designs 1. For an even more expanded gallery of tribal designs, try Chopper Tattoo. They have a huge gallery of tattoo designs.