A study of the real history of ear gauging indicates the practice to be as old as recorded human history. For males, this form of ear piercing is a symbol of status, while for women, in addition to getting used as means of bodily decoration, it's been employed to signify the attainment of womanhood. Ear gauging, which will be also called ear stretching, is the stretching of ear lobe piercings to larger diameters than that of the first piercing. It's a form of body enhancement or beautification that lots of young western people adopt to look distinctive from the most common crowd. However, this is not a contemporary type of body piercing, since it has been around for so long as archaeological records exist.
Oftentimes, ear gauging has been used historically to point the standing of members of a certain tribe, and in many respects, this really is still the specific situation today. Stretched piercings have already been, and still are, a reflection on the average person capability and also their superiority over other males in the tribe. The more expensive the stretching, the more important the individual. Iceman is a perfect exemplory instance of mummies known to own stretched ears. This is actually the earliest known exemplory case of Nose-jewel, having mm ear piercings during. A tribe where in actuality the women are obliged to wear plates inside their gauged ears and on the bottom lip. About per year ahead of her marriage, or at about years old, a girl's lip will soon be pierced by her mother and a wooden peg pushed through the incision. Once healed, the peg is changed for a bigger diameter one. Eventually, the peg is replaced by a plate of clay or wood, and this plate is successively changed for larger diameter ones until the required diameter is obtained from around cm in diameter.
Once these plates have been secured, she receives a greater amount of respect than those without them. These lip and ear plates do not need to be worn permanently, but are an expected adornment during special events such as for instance during weddings and other celebrations, and when they serve food to men. Today, women can generally make their particular decision as to whether they follow this tradition. The practice of ear gauging has been common among men and women for tens and thousands of years. Lately, however, most young men have not been following this custom, although you'll still find many women wearing ear decorations created from stones, cross-cut elephant tusks, wood, and animal bones. The initial piercing is carried out utilizing a thorn, sharpened twig or sharp knifepoint. Once healed, ear gauging is then carried out by wearing increasingly heavy jewelry that pulls the lobe down and stretches the piercing.