Useful graffiti from ancient Egypt

Not everything is negative when talking about graffiti and that is certainly not the case for graffiti from antiquity where we can use every single scrap of information.

One such interesting number of graffiti has been discovered on the walls of a building in Abydos, Egypt, near the tomb of Pharaoh Senwosret III (also spelled as Senusret III) who ruled from 1878 to 1839 BC. All 120 pictures depict ancient boats, complete with sails, masts, rigging, deckhouses or cabins, rudders, and oars, and in certain cases, even the rowers are there.

What makes this discovery even more special is that the drawings were made by different people over a short period of time. Some of them were more talented than others, but all are disclosing their intimate connection with the boats. The largest images are nearly 1.5 meters wide while the smallest one reaches only 10 cm. Originally, there would have been many more such drawings on the walls including also pictures of gazelle, cattle, and flowers. The reason why these graffiti were made remains, however, unanswered.

In ancient Egypt, it was rather common to place boats inside the royal tombs and archaeologists have found that this tomb has been broken into after the death of the pharaoh and the funeral boat has been taken apart in order to reuse the planks.

Beside the graffiti, archaeologists are also puzzled by the liquid that left traces at the very entrance to the tomb. A good number of jars were found there and their content may have been spilled on purpose to make it appear as if the wooden boat was floating.

Once again, we will have to wait for more in-depth analysis to determine the context of these graffiti and the burial procedure used in this tomb.

[Picture Credit Josef Wegner, Live Science]