Archaeology Updates: Medieval graffiti deciphered at supposed site of the Last Supper
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
On Apr. 16, researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences— Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (OeAW) —and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced that they had discovered a series of medieval inscriptions and drawings at the site believed to have been the location of the Last Supper on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, Israel.
Called the “Room of the Last Supper,” or “Cenacle,” the hall sits on the location where Christians believe Jesus Christ had his last meal before he was arrested and executed by the Romans. According to the OeAW, “one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem is located on the summit of Mount Sion. Jews and Muslims consider it to be the burial place of the biblical King David.” According to the New York Post, it has been an important site for Christian pilgrims for centuries, at least since the fourth century AD.
The Cenacle sits within a structure built in the late twelfth century AD by Christian Crusaders. It was part of a Franciscan monastery until the Ottoman conquest of Jerusalem in the early sixteenth century. Artnet News explains, “The current building was built during the Crusader period and once formed part of a Franciscan monastery before the Ottomans expelled the friars in 1517.” The hall was turned into a mosque, and its inscriptions were plastered over.
Most of the hall’s graffiti date to the late Middle Ages, and “offer a glimpse into the lives of Christian pilgrims who visited the site between the 14th and 16th centuries,” according to Archaeology News. Researchers found close to 30 different inscriptions and nine drawings, most of which had been left by the numerous Christian pilgrims who visited the Cenacle, although the addition of new graffiti would carry on into the Ottoman period of Jerusalem.
According to Artnet News, OeAW and IAA researchers explain that ambivalence to the graffiti by the monks of the Franciscan monastery explain why people were allowed to etch writings and drawings into the walls in the first place, “The situation in the Cenacle is consistent with what is known about the phenomena of church graffiti in Western Europe.”
The restoration of the Cenacle in the 1990s uncovered the plastered-over inscriptions and allowed for them to be digitally preserved, analyzed, and their messages to be deciphered. According to Artnet News, the researchers at the OeAW and IAA accomplished this via the use of “Reflectance Transformation Imaging, which highlighted the physical surface of the walls and helped identify worn out markings.” Imaging is used to identify hard-to-read graffiti, and multispectral photography is used to discern the makeup of the materials used in the graffiti.
The results show that most of the graffiti left at the site was by Arabic-speaking Christians from across the Middle East, although there is huge diversity in the regions where Christians traveled from who etched on the walls of the Cenacle. Of particular note is the graffiti of early fifteenth century German pilgrim Johannes Poloner, late fifteenth century Swiss knight Adrian von Bubenberg, Venetian noble Jacomo Querini, and Austrian noble Tristram von Teuffenbach, “whose family crest were found drawn on a wall of the Cenacle,” according to the OeAW— which adds that Serbian and Czech Christian pilgrims likely also added to the Cenacle’s graffiti.
The OeAW explains, “an Armenian inscription 'Christmas 1300' is one of the most important discoveries. It could resolve a question that has been debated since the 14th century: did Armenian King Het'um II and his victorious army actually reach Jerusalem after the Battle of Wādī al-Khaznadār in Syria on December 22, 1299?” According to the researchers, it’s a distinct possibility.
Artnet News reports a notable Ottoman period inscription that refers Sheikh Aḥmad al-ʿAǧamī, “One individual who was the opposite of ambivalent towards the pilgrims and their place in the Cenacle…” Artnet News described the message as a dedication to the sheikh, “First a monumental Ottoman dedication that mentions him and second a scorpion that references him by way of a Sufi symbol.”
Ilya Berkovich of the OeAW explains that these recent discoveries “provide a unique insight into the geographical origins of the pilgrims. This was far more diverse than the current Western-dominated research perspective led us to believe.” Archaeology Magazine concludes that the recent work of the OeAW and IAA “offers a reminder of Jerusalem's reputation as a spiritual crossroads,” the Cenacle being a clear example of the city’s diverse cultural heritage that’s still being uncovered today.