Tattooing and body modification have been around for millennia. But what was it like in Early America, when Europeans were making contact with Indigenous peoples for the first time? How were tattoos interpreted? What was the message behind scalping? Were there economic incentives for scalps?

Dr. Mairin Odle joins me to discuss her book, "Under the Skin: Tattoos, Scalps, and the Contested Language of Bodies in Early America." Mairin is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Alabama and has done some great research on the history of body modification.