So-called graffiti changes through time relative to a whole host of cultural values and customs. As several of us (probably including Ron) have recorded, it can be used to show a whole host of social (and personal) relationships and attitudes that relate to what was going on at the time, worldwide or strictly local. Kinds, applications, and especially subjects of graffiti are not at all static and change constantly. It's not just the historic content (recording of an old event or person) that may be important -- or even just historically interesting to later visitors, perhaps (hopefully) another hundred years into the future.
In reply to some of the comments: On the matter of identifying authenticity, and even which century an inscription belongs, it is often necessary to use one's brain -- that is, it may be necessary to think. One can use character of the inscription, manner of application, style of letters, subject, condition, and a whole host of other things. On dates, however, an inscribed date can (and does) refer to any number of things -- time of visit, birth date, graduation date, date of first sex (usually with a particular person), date of some special event (such as sports championship). And some inscriptions (particularly by Boy Scouts and persons with limited gray matter) are clearly fakes, jokes, or are meant intentionally to deceive. There are hundreds of examples of destruction of important historic information by federal and state agencies (and not just in the US -- remember the French Boy Scouts who scrubbed all the 15,000 year old paintings off the ceiling), but suffice it to say that if so-called graffiti is to be removed, it should be fully, carefully, and intensively recorded (including precise location, position, aspect, and association) -- and those records should be placed into permanent archeological (or caving) curation facilities. That certainly will not be viewed in the future as the best preservation policy, but since systematic destruction of historic values is now a way of life in the US (and growing worldwide), it's about the best we can do. John Greer ----- Original Message ----- From: Nancy Weaver To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 3:07 PM Subject: [Texascavers] Historic Signatures > > >The date on the signatures of September 26, 1891 qualifies these >signatures as "historic" rather than graffiti. Note the quaint >spelling of the word "guide." > well you are lucky there werent any graffiti zealots around at the time to clean up these signatures so that you get to enjoy them now. Nancy
