Graffito (archaeology)

Antiquity

Ancient Egypt

Modern knowledge of the history of Ancient Egypt was originally derived from inscriptions, literature, (Books of the Dead), pharaonic historical records, and reliefs, from temple statements, and numerous individual objects whether pharaonic or for the Egyptian citizenry. Twentieth-century developments led to finding less common sources of information indicating the intricacies of the interrelationships of the pharaoh, his appointees, and the citizenry.

Three minor sources have helped link the major pieces of interrelationships in Ancient Egypt: ostraca, scarab artifacts, and numerous temple, quarry, etc. sources have helped fill in minor pieces of the complex dealings in Ancient Egypt. The reliefs, and writings with the reliefs, are often supplemented with a graffito, often in hieratic and discovered in locations not commonly seen, like a door jamb, hallway, entranceway, or the side or reverse of an object.

Late (Roman) Demotic

Very late Egyptian Demotic was used only for ostraca, mummy labels, subscriptions to Greek texts, and graffiti. The last dated example of Egyptian Demotic is from the Temple of Isis at Philae, dated 11 December 452 CE. See Demotic "Egyptian".

Deir el-Bahri

Pilgrims to religious sites left numerous graffiti at the Egyptian site of Deir el-Bahri.

Ancient Athens

Large quantities of graffiti have been found in Athens during excavations by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens; nearly 850 were catalogued by Mabel Lang in 1976. These include a variety of different types of graffiti, such as abecedaria, kalos inscriptions, insults, marks of ownership, commercial notations, dedications, Christian inscriptions, messages, lists and pictures. They date from the eighth century BC through to the late Roman period.

Ancient Rome

The Sator square (originally the "Rotas-Sator square") is a Latin graffito found at numerous sites throughout the Roman Empire (e.g. Pompeii, Dura-Europos), and elsewhere (United Kingdom) with the earliest versions dated to pre-A.D. 62 in Pompeii. The square became a powerful religious, and magical symbol, throughout medieval Europe.

Medieval Britain

There are several types of graffiti found in British buildings dating from the Middle Ages. There is a wide range of graffiti to be found on medieval buildings and especially in churches. These are some of the most common types:

• Architectural drawings
• Compass drawings
• Crosses
• Early text
• Figures
• Heraldry
• Mason's marks
• Merchant's marks
• Pentangles
• Ship graffiti
• Solomon's knot
• VV Symbols

Medieval graffiti is a relatively new area of study with the first full-length work being produced in 1967 by Violet Pritchard. The Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey was established in 2010 with the aim of undertaking the first large-scale survey of medieval graffiti in the UK. The survey primarily looks at graffiti dating from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. Since 2010 a number of other county based surveys have been set up. These include Kent, Suffolk and Surrey.

The examples below are from Saint Nicholas, the parish church of Blakeney.

Modern imaging technology

The images above were enhanced by using multiple light sources when photographing, but more recent examples in Malta used eye-tracking devices and generative algorithms to create a database that enabled the creation of 3D images and video in addition to the standard perspective.