World Heritage Site

One of the funniest Connections between WHS that we have on this website is Historical Graffiti. I always enjoy looking out for those pre-20th century scribblings while visiting a WHS. A good example was in the news this week: the discovery of more Roman graffiti at the site of the Written Rock of Gelt at Hadrian’s Wall. Roman soldiers working at the quarry had scratched a phallus into the wall, "a good luck symbol in Roman times".

The word 'graffiti' is of Italian origin and literally means 'little scratches or scribbles'. According to Chambers dictionary the exact English definition is: ”words or drawings, usually humorous, political or rude, scratched, sprayed or painted on walls, etc in public places”. The American Merriam Webster dictionary adds that they are “usually unauthorized”.

After cleaning up and adding some, we currently have 31 entries for this connection. Let’s have a closer look at what they are about:

How old are they?

Graffiti clearly is of all times. The writings or drawings can be as old as the site as itself, or as recent as the 19th century. The oldest ones among the WHS with Historical Graffiti are those at the Megalithic Temple of Hagar Qim (possibly 3rd millennium BC) and the ones at the Pyramids (an inscription has been confirmed as dating back to 1240 BC). During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries it became almost commonplace to leave your markings on a classic archaeological site such as Persepolis and Baalbek.

Who made them?

The authors or ‘artists’ can be divided into several groups of people:

• Pilgrims / Crusaders
• Prisoners
• Mercenaries / Soldiers
• Workers
• Tourists
• Locals

They are mostly people who travelled from afar, wealthy ‘Victorian travellers’, explorers, pilgrims and to a certain extent soldiers that were sent abroad as well. Also people who got stuck somewhere and got bored, such as prisoners and (again) soldiers.

At certain places, the workers that constructed the WHS have left their mark also. This is possibly the case with the very early drawing at Hagar Qim: the model of a temple could have been left there by the builders. At the Pyramids, the various gangs of workers left inscriptions such as “Drunks of Menkaure” and “Friends of Khufu Gang” (Menkaure and Khufu being pyramid-building Egyptian kings) on bricks at the monuments of Giza. From a much later date is the graffiti left behind by the convicts who were assigned to construct Australia’s Great North Road.

A special case is that of the 15th century 'scientists' (a.k.a. catacomb hunters) who could not constrain themselves at Rome’s Catacombs, when they rediscovered earlier paintings. In some cases they just scribbled their names on top of the new findings!

What do they represent?

The most common form of historical graffiti is just the inscription of a person's name. Or “[name] was here”. Or “[name] [year]”. Sometimes this act of self-expression was extended to one or two full sentences, remarking on the quality of the location they just had visited.

While most graffiti are simple texts or drawings, more elaborate forms have been found as well. Tikal for example is covered with Mayan drawings of masks, animal figures and temples. In Pompei, more than 11,000 inscriptions have been found, ranging from poems to riddles.