Ships Graffiti in Maresha Subterranean Complex 89
Available until October 5, 2018
Near Eastern Archaeology, June 2018, “Ships Graffiti in Maresha Subterranean Complex 89” by Elie Haddad (Israel Antiquities Authority), Ian Stern (Archaeological Seminars Institute) and Michal Artzy (University of Haifa)
During the course of excavations in room 50, Subterranean Complex (SC) 89 at Maresha, several interesting wall drawings were discovered. Located within the southeastern part of the lower city of Maresha, SC 89 bears graffiti depicting four ships. The graffito on the western wall contains a very long warship and additional prows of two warships. The graffito in the entranceway contains a single merchant vessel. The graffiti were scratched into the soft chalk stone with a sharp tool and are typologically datable to the Hellenistic period. The graffito of the warship—the first from Maresha—represents a Macedonian galley according to the authors. They theorize that if the locals were the artists, the ships depicted should represent their vessels. Who did the actual hard labor of the quarrying of these future tombs? The authors suggest the possibility that captives or slaves carried out the task.
