when i was at the temple 4 days ago, inside the hallway leading up to the main room right next to it, i noticed arabic writing in white chalk on the wall. it says "2008 the vagina" in arabic. i told the curator and he was shocked and saddened.

[edit on 5-1-2009 by DuneKnight]

Truly sad.

Here in America, we have to carefully monitor our monuments for the same sort of stuff. I talked to National Park rangers who caught people painting graffiti on monuments... the culprits' reason was "so we could say we were here."

Ugh.

I've never understood this type of graffiti, or tagging. Tagging is all over the city I live, and every time I pass by one I cannot understand the reason a person would write their 'handle' on a wall that will be passed by complete strangers who will never know who the tagger is. 'Mike was here'... who cares!?

Graffiti on archeological sites is even more baffling... why do it?

there are people who think awareness and respect are evolutionary disadvantages

How to stop no brain?

At least it was chalk, not paint right? Or damn permanent marker.







Tourist numbers declining due to credit cardiac might give some places a break for a while.

Originally posted by RuneSpider

Heck, several of the bathhouses show the same wit you see on today's restrooms.

lol,

Found in Greek Bathhouse- "Here I sit Broken Hearted... " That is cool. I didn't know that. You get a star for teaching me something new today. I wonder what they used instead of phone numbers? "For a good time send a carrier pigeon to..."

Still I disagree with defacing a historic treasure.

Originally posted by RuneSpider
Probably not... but I read a book several years ago that was based off of "(Forgot the name) is an idiot." It was on a ancient greece temple i believe, from the time period. Heck, several of the bathhouses show the same wit you see on today's restrooms.

Yeah well the archeologists typically only show the "clean" graffiti. Most of it was NOT at all clean, and the ancient Romans and Greeks could be quite crude especially when criticizing other people.

Sheesh even ancient stone age cave drawings, they SHOW the PUBLIC the pictures of hunters and spears and game animals, when in reality I have read the MAJORITY of the drawings were more along the lines of crudely drawn female figures with very large breasts and genitalia. They came to the conclusion that much of it was drawn by adolescent stone age males.

The graffiti was in chalk, and they are "saddened" by it?

OMFG. 25 seconds with a rag and a glass of water and the "graffiti" is gone.

Originally posted by sir_chancealot
The graffiti was in chalk, and they are "saddened" by it?

OMFG. 25 seconds with a rag and a glass of water and the "graffiti" is gone.

Not simple.



The sandstone that the temples at Abu Simbel are carved out of is highly porous - like a sponge - and the application of any kind of fluid - the rubbing would leave a dirty mark.

Calcium Carbonate (chalk) is virtually insoluble in water, and any kind of even mildy acidic fluid would be out of the question because it would dissolve deep in to the surface of the sandstone, including any minerals giving the stone its color.

Colored chalk would complicate the restoration even more.

Yes - an expert will have to be called to assess the damage and plan a restoration.




[edit on 8-1-2009 by undermind]

Tagging is the result of a need to be noticed by someone who would otherwise not have left a mark on the world. These guys are complete losers who have no other skills and no sense of responsibility.