<P> Contemporary body piercing practices emphasize the use of safe body piercing materials, frequently utilizing specialized tools developed for the purpose . Body piercing is an invasive procedure with some risks, including allergic reaction, infection, excessive scarring and unanticipated physical injuries, but such precautions as sanitary piercing procedures and careful aftercare are emphasized to minimize the likelihood of encountering serious problems . The healing time required for a body piercing may vary widely according to placement, from as little as a month for some genital piercings to as much as two full years for the navel . </P> <P> Body adornment has only recently become a subject of serious scholarly research by archaeologists, who have been hampered in studying body piercing by a sparsity of primary sources . Early records rarely discussed the use of piercings or their meaning, and while jewellery is common among grave goods, the deterioration of the flesh that it once adorned makes it difficult to discern how the jewellery may have been used . Also, the modern record has been vitiated with the 20th - century inventions of piercing enthusiast Doug Malloy . In the 1960s and 1970s, Malloy marketed contemporary body piercing by giving it the patina of history . His pamphlet Body & Genital Piercing in Brief included such commonly reproduced urban legends as the notion that Prince Albert invented the piercing that shares his name in order to diminish the appearance of his large penis in tight trousers, and that Roman centurions attached their capes to nipple piercings . Some of Malloy's myths are reprinted as fact in subsequently published histories of piercing . </P> <P> Ear piercing has been practiced all over the world since ancient times . There is considerable written and archaeological evidence of the practice . Mummified bodies with pierced ears have been discovered, including the oldest mummified body discovered to date, the 5,300 - year - old Ötzi the Iceman, which was found in a glacier in Italy . This mummy had an ear piercing 7--11 mm diameter . The oldest earrings found in a grave date to 2500 BCE . These were located in the Sumerian city of Ur, home of the Biblical patriarch Abraham . Earrings are mentioned in the Bible . In Genesis 35: 4, Jacob buries the earrings worn by members of his household along with their idols . In Exodus 32, Aaron makes the golden calf from melted earrings . Deuteronomy 15: 12--17 dictates ear piercing for a slave who chooses not to be freed . Earrings are also referenced in connection to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi in the Vedas . Earrings for pierced ears were found in a grave in the Ukok region between Russia and China dated between 400 and 300 BCE . </P> <P> Among the Tlingit of the Pacific Northwest of America, earrings were a sign of nobility and wealth, as the placement of each earring on a child had to be purchased at an expensive potlatch . Earrings were common in the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1550--1292 BCE), generally taking the form of a dangling, gold hoop . Gem - studded, golden earrings shaped like asps seem to have been reserved for nobility . The ancient Greeks wore paste pendant earrings shaped like sacred birds or demigods, while the women of ancient Rome wore precious gemstones in their ears . </P>

Where did the idea of piercings come from
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