We know that practically every civilization in history has practiced some type of body art or body modification and that tattoos were among them.
Here is some information on tattooing in a nutshell.
Pre-Biblical
Archaeologists have discovered many mummified corpses with tattoos during the last 150 years:
The body of a Siberian "Iceman" was discovered frozen and well-preserved in the Alps in 1991. The corpse was almost 5,000 years old and had 57 tattoos.
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A Russian researcher discovered the mummy of a Scythian Chieftain while excavating a set of graves in 1948. Tattoos depicting a donkey, a mountain ram, and two deer were found on the mummy's right arm. In addition, his shin was ringed by tattoos of four rushing rams.
Archaeologists unearthed the mummified bones of Amunet, an Egyptian priestess who lived somewhere between 2160 BC and 1994 BC, in 1891. Her arms, legs, and the area below the belly button were all covered with tattoos.
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Scientists in Japan have unearthed clay figures with tattoo-like patterns that are over 3,000 years old.
Biblical
Much of the pagan world was using tattooing as a form of god worship at the period of the Old Testament. As a result, Israel had to respond negatively, attempting to distance itself from the worship of other gods: "You must not make any incisions in your flesh on behalf of the dead, nor tattoo any markings upon you: I am the LORD."
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M.W. Thomson, a biblical scholar, claims that Moses was a fan of tattoos. According to Thomson, Moses introduced tattoos as a means to remember the Jews' rescue from slavery in Egypt. Thomson speculates in his 1859 research that Moses considered the ban above only applied to heathen, pagan pictures.
Many slaves and criminals were tattooed, according to Roman writers such as Virgil, Seneca, and Galenus, just before Christ's birth.
Post-Biblical
When Constantine became Roman Emperor in the early fourth century and lifted the ban on Christianity, he also outlawed facial tattooing, which was widespread among criminals, soldiers, and gladiators. The human face, Constantine felt, was a symbol of God's image and should not be distorted or polluted.
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A monk from the late fifth century was known to have a tattoo on his thigh that read: "Manim, the follower of Jesus Christ."
Many Christians were tattooed with a cross or the name of Christ on their arms, according to Procopius of Caesarea, who lived in the first part of the sixth century and published a number of official histories.
In his book "Insular Celtic Tattooing: History, Myth, and Metaphor," Charles MacQuarrie explains how "marks" referenced in Saint Brigit's Life might have been tattoos. He also claims that some Celtic Christians approved of tattoos, but not all.
The 786 Report of the Papal Legates recorded two forms of tattooing at the council of Calcuth in Northumberland: one of pagan superstition, which does not benefit any Christian, and another for the cause of God, which brings some (unnamed) advantages. Arriving in the Holy Land, Crusaders typically tattooed a tiny cross on their hands or arms as a message that they wanted to be buried as Christians.