I have no problem whatsoever with graffiti and often find it to be
entertaining, a peculiarity I share with none other than Marion O. Smith! It is
a
basic human urge to memorialize ones fleeting presence in a timeless or remote
place. That urge has been with us at least since the Pleistocene, and shows no
sign of changing soon. It is not just caves, but old trees, mountain tops, and
even buildings that get tagged. I particularly like the writings on men’s
room walls, folk poetry at it’s best!
My only complaint is that it is so rarely well done. Notice that the older
the graffito the better crafted it is likely to be. The best of all are 30,000+
years old. I have seen magnificent ancient inscriptions on cave and cliff
walls in China, and of course in Mexico and Belize. What if some judgmental
jackass in the year 626 had decided that King JaguarPenis’ exploits didn't
deserve to be remembered and rubbed them out. That is the way I feel about
navel
lint picking dweebs who have nothing better to do than to scrub cave walls in
an attempt to obliterate history and bring the exploits of others to their
own level of anonymity.
Now I hate spray paint and beer cans in a cave as much as the next guy,
mostly because it destroys my illusion that I am the first one to get there,
but
the fact is that neither do any harm whatsoever; meanwhile, flowstone never
sleeps and time heals all. Remember that the next time you are stomping on
salamanders while revirginifying the cave walls.
Now, on to the strangest anachronistic graffiti I have ever seen. Quite a
few years ago I was taking a train trip through the Copper canyon and got off
at
San Juanito. The map showed volcanic shelter caves all over the place,
virtually all of which were, or still are, inhabited by the Tarahumara. The
locals
all agreed that the best caves were far away, so I hitched a ride in a
pickup to an Indian settlement and from there hired horses to take me to the
best
cave which was called Las Grutas de Chomachic.
It was a absolutely spectacular series of cliff dwellings, caves, and ruins,
all in a state of almost perfect preservation, and all cut into pink
volcanic tuff in a beautiful pine oak forest. I stayed there three days and
loved it!
There was lots of graffiti everywhere. Some were handprints in the adobe,
some were charcoal drawings, others were hunting scenes with animals scratched
into the rock. Some were obviously very old, but some weren't.
Now it is time to interject a bit of history. The Tarahumara absolutely
hated and feared the Apaches. I met one Tarahumara who vehemently bragged to me
that his great grandfather had killed Victorio.
So it was that I was extremely surprised to see a graffito done in the old
style yet with red paint that depicted an Indian with a rifle in one hand and a
bow in the other. The inscription in Spanish read “El Apache Vitorio” with
a date that was four years in the future! (I was there in 86 and the date was
1990).
Whoever created the Graffito was obviously an Indian, yet a historical
revisionist. I’m just glad I got there before some even more modern historical
revisionist scrubbed it off.
I suppose I’m one too, because just to piss off future archeologists I
completely rebuilt the hearth where I made my campfire. Them danged Injuns
didn't
have clue as to how to build things out of stone! But then I’m the same guy
who has been known to slip his business card into a crack in an unopened Mayan
grave. Can you imagine the look on the looter or archeologist’s face when
they discover my card in an unopened grave?
I have a real problem with those who suppose that history is the exclusive
property of academia, and who utterly destroy sites to squeeze out the juice of
knowledge then leave the ruins in a state of ruin. History is an ongoing
project, and we are all participants.
Sleazeweazel
