Lars Krutak scarified by a member of the Hamar tribe, Omo Valley, Ethiopia. (Photo by Dave MacGuire)

Lars Krutak is a “tattoo anthropologist,” an archaeologist and sociocultural anthropologist who has traveled the globe to document the technical and cultural aspects of indigenous body modification practices. He has trekked from the Arctic to the Amazon, Thailand to Turkey, all in search of the story of tattooing and how it relates to the peoples of the world.

Now, thanks to his intriguing research and globetrotting exploits, Krutak is getting his own television series. Tattoo Hunter premiered March 7 on the Discovery Channel and features Krutak journeying to Papua New Guinea to become the first outsider to bear the sacred tattoo of the Kaningara tribe – after enduring their blood rites. The next installment, March 14, follows Krutak as he navigates the jungles of Indonesia on a quest for the Mentawai spirit tattoo.

Krutak, a doctoral candidate in ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has served as an anthropological consultant for three National Geographic documentaries and was a co-recipient of the 2003 American Book Award in Literature. Before devoting himself full time to tattoo anthropology, he worked at the Smithsonian Institution as a research collaborator in the National Museum of Natural History and as a repatriation research specialist at the National Museum of the American Indian. 

For more information on Lars Krutak, visit his Web site at http://www.larskrutak.com.