The earliest evidence to prove that henna was used to celebrate women's sexuality and fertility is the red hand patterns ornamenting fertility shrine walls from 7000 B.C.E., at Catal Huyuk in the 7th millennium BCE. The earliest civilizations that can be proved to have used henna include the Babylonians, Assyrians, Sumerians, Semites, Ugaritics and Canaanites.

There are many statuettes from Crete and Mycenae from the period 1700 BCE to 900 BCE that show goddesses synchronous with Anath, with raised hands that appear to be ornamented with henna.

Historical Period
Henna was used in Palestine from the earliest historical period, and there are Roman records of henna being used by Jewish people living in Jerusalem during the historical period of the birth of Christ. Henna was grown and used in Spain, by Christians and Moors from the 9th century AD to 1567 when it was outlawed by the Spanish Inquisition.

When Islam began in the 6-7th centuries AD, henna was incorporated into the customs of Muslims from the western Middle Eastern women's henna traditions that were widespread and long established.