Un análisis comparativo de los grafitis en la zona tebana: paisaje, ubicación e intencionalidad en los grafitis figurativos del C2 Project, The Royal Cache Wadi Survey

Abstract

The current research is mainly a preliminary study of some of the most significant graffiti located in the wadi C2, in the context of the ongoing investigation of the C2 Project. The Royal Cache Wadi Survey, and tries to clear out the motivations behind the location and concentration of graffiti in the area, probably related to the sacred character of the place. Through the analysis of C2 graffiti published in the work Graffiti de la Montaigne Thebaine, which are being revised in depth, the types of figurative graffiti are established, as well as those figures connected to specific textual graffiti, maybe later additions. The study of the figurative graffiti follows a comparative approach considering them in connection to the landscape and to contemporary and older graffiti in the wadi, and relating them with the presence of graffiti in Theban tombs, which have been analysed by Alexis Den Doncker and Chloé C.D. Ragazzoli. The analysis of an interesting graffito with a hunt in the desert scene (graffito 3652) will be a case-study to understand the reception of the funerary art of the New Kingdom and its transference into the rocky wall of the Theban mountains. In all, we will try to explain the presence of a significant corpus of graffito recorded in the wadi C2, within an inhospitable environment but that maybe had a sacred character linked to a religious cult. The existence of this type of human activity, graffiti, could be understood as an example of ‘space appropriation’, an intention to leave a mark on the site by creating a text or just making a drawing.