But our modern use of the root in “graffiti,” has a much greater context. The Greek word, graphein, means to write. But the intent of graffiti has never changed: “I exist! Look at me!” In many ways, graffiti is humankind’s earliest attempt to leave its mark on the world. By some accounts, we’ve been doing it for nearly 40,000 years. From the charcoal briquettes and crude tools of the prehistoric peoples of North America, ancient Egyptians, and the earliest manmade art in the caves of Indonesia, it has been a long road to the Sharpie markers and Krylon cans of modern man.
