BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Graffiti: The Ancient World’s Social Media

Bible and archaeology news

Thousands of ancient graffiti can be found carved into the walls of burial caves, tombs and quarries throughout the land of Israel. Typically, they include the name of the carver, sometimes accompanied by a brief prayer or simple drawing. Though these simple messages from the past have traditionally been neglected by scholars, some archaeologists are beginning to study these remains more carefully to see what they can reveal about the societies that created them. “Graffiti are a way of expressing yourself,” said Boaz Zissu, an archaeologist and senior lecture at Bar Ilan University who has been studying Israel’s ancient graffiti for decades. “In a period when Internet and blogs didn’t exist and somebody wanted to express himself and to say something they were doing, they did it with a nail on a wall of a cave.”

Thousands of ancient graffiti can be found carved into the walls of burial caves, tombs and quarries throughout the land of Israel.