Appraising modern cave graffiti in Greece
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 28/10/2015

Niels Andreasen
MUSEUM OF COPENHAGEN
Modern engravings in caves in Greece represents an archive of names, initials and dates amassed over the last century. While such “simple” graffiti has largely been ignored by formal academic study, it may provide insights about the different ways that people engaged with the rural landscape, something not easily recognisable in other ways. Graffiti point to transformations that the local community underwent and may hint at different intensities of use and value of cave sites over time.


During fieldwork on a Greek mountain, dates, initials and images were recorded at 42 caves. Some caves were situated along major regional transport routes, and depictions of pack animals, boats and sailing ships are likely connected to flourishing trade during the 18th and 19th centuries. Date clusters may suggest increased pastoral activity in and around the caves during specific periods. Extensive land reforms in the inter-war period led to a growing number of dates in an increasing number of caves. Consequently, dates left in caves during the 1930s more than triple in comparison to previous decades.


The 1990’s saw both an increase in tourism and an influx in Albanian immigration. Both groups had an impact on the number of dates being engraved, especially since the latter often found employment as shepherds upon their arrival in Greece. A drop in graffiti dates in the most recent decades can perhaps be related to the introduction of digital cameras influencing how people document their visit to places in the landscape.