Ancient Graffiti

While I have a deep deep hatred for those who deface priceless antiquities (I’m looking at you, Laszlo Toth), the inner archaeologist in me also has a fascination with the results, especially when they manage to stick around for a long time. On a recent visit to Angkor Wat, I strayed from the usual temple shots (mostly), and tried to focus on some of the smaller details. The temple’s collection of old graffiti caught my eye, as I found myself thinking back to what it would have looked like here at the turn of the century, and what led someone to scratch their name into these historical walls.

Here are a few of the etchings I found. The quality is not that great (my apologies), but it will leave you to wonder who Jonn is, and how drunk he really was when he decided to carve himself into infamy.

Mike desperately wanted to carve “Poppe wuz here” into one of the giant noses at Angkor Thom, but ultimately decided against it.