Since discovering what I believe may be rock art on my little hill, it has become my favourite place to observe, photograph and investigate. But the longer I spend there, the more I have started noticing something else: graffiti.
Some of it has clearly been there for years. Boys have left their names on the rocks. There is a certain confidence in writing your full name on a rock, as though the possibility of being identified never crossed your mind. Some have helpfully included both their surnames and the year, making my detective work considerably easier! Others have left less flattering messages, including the occasional declaration that someone “is a pig”. The little hill has evidently been home to more than just artistic expression!
A quick POPIA disclaimer: I do hope I am not landing myself in trouble for photographing and sharing these little pieces of graffiti. After all, I didn't have to do any detective work to identify some of the artists. They helpfully supplied their full names! Unfortunately, in the interests of privacy, I may have to blur the very names that make this graffiti so entertaining. There goes my evidence! A rock sleuth's work is never easy.
Then there are the musical tributes. One of my favourites is "Metallica". This narrows the date of matriculation down considerably. Somewhere between 1981 and… well, 1991? The band's name certainly brings back a particular era.
My little hill has always been a bit of a no-go zone, although that has never stopped generations of boys from making it their own. It has served as a lunch spot, a place to catch a nap, somewhere to bunk a lesson, and possibly a place to enjoy a cigarette away from prying eyes. I shall leave that last possibility to your imagination!
Some more examples of graffiti on my hill.
And my little hill is actually rather famous! Herman Charles Bosman, the celebrated South African writer who attended the school, wrote about it in "Jeppe High Revisited", published in "The South African Opinion" in October 1946. So, long before I arrived with my camera and my interest in rock art, this little koppie had already found its way into South African literature! I was soon to disover that not only did boys who came here write about it, they actually wrote on it.
Enter Tipp-Ex: The Unsung Pigment!
I would like to give a very special shout-out to Tipp-Ex and its manufacturer, BIC. If anyone from BIC happens to stumble across this post, please know that your correction fluid is receiving some rather unexpected field testing on my little hill in South Africa.
The Tipp-Ex brand dates back to 1959, making it 67 years old in 2026. Little did anyone imagine that a product designed to correct mistakes on paper would find itself being used by generations of schoolboys to leave their names on rocks!
And the really amusing part? BIC's South African office is only a short drive from my little hill. So, your product has been undergoing an unofficial, long-term field test practically in your own backyard, testing this entirely unintended application that was never envisaged when Tipp-Ex was first developed! No laboratory, no research grant, no special equipment - just a hill, some schoolboys, a few bottles of Tipp-Ex and the South African weather.
There is a little irony here, though. At school, Tipp-Ex is a banned substance in the photocopying room. Anyone familiar with the South African art of "spoeg en plak" will understand exactly why! For those who don't know, it involves a little creative ingenuity with correction fluid, scissors, glue and the photocopier when preparing documents. The results can be memorable, and not always in the way intended!
Yet, on my little hill, "Tipp-Ex is king".
I have watched graffiti made with other pigments fade over time, but the names and words written in Tipp-Ex seem to be standing the test of time remarkably well. Sun, rain, acid rain, seasonal downpours, wind and icy winter weather have apparently failed to make much of a dent in this remarkable white pigment.
Ancient artists might well have been impressed. Perhaps they should have had a bottle or two in their toolkit!
Perhaps BIC should consider sponsoring my research. After all, I have been conducting a long-term field study of its product, entirely without charge. I cannot promise scientific results, but the exposure is excellent!
The only thing that comes to mind as a possible rival is the adhesive used by Neanderthals to attach stone tools to handles. Archaeologists have found evidence of birch-bark tar used as an adhesive tens of thousands of years ago. Researchers have even recreated different methods of producing it, although the precise techniques used in particular prehistoric contexts remain a subject of investigation.
Tipp-Ex, meanwhile, has been quietly getting on with the business of preserving schoolboy signatures.
They say a chicken is only a few evolutionary steps away from a dinosaur. (Actually, birds are living dinosaurs, so the chicken has a better claim to the title than it might realise!)
My friend Collette insists that instant coffee is only two polymers away from plastic. She even calls it “plastic coffee”!
With that in mind, I suspect Tipp-Ex may be the medium of choice for the modern rock graffiti artist a few chemical bonds away from becoming permanent archaeological heritage!
Because on my little hill, it seems to be well on its way!
Am I Being a Hypocrite?
For a long time, I have been trying to protect my little hill. Every time I discovered another piece of graffiti, I felt a little disheartened. Here I was, trying to understand and document what might be ancient art, while people continued to write on rocks, roll boulders down the slope and, sometimes, damage the very features I was trying to study.
Then I had an uncomfortable little thought.
Was I being a hypocrite?
Ancient people also marked, pecked, painted, carved and sculpted natural rock surfaces. They transformed stone into something meaningful to them. I look at their work and wonder who made it, what they intended, and what we might be missing.
Yet when I see a boy's name written on my hill, my first instinct is to wish it were not there.
Of course, there is a difference between documenting an ancient object and deliberately damaging a place that may contain important archaeological material. I am certainly not suggesting that every scribble on a rock is a masterpiece, or that graffiti should be encouraged on a potentially significant site. The rolling of boulders and destruction of features I am studying remain genuine concerns.
But the thought did make me pause.
Imagine someone visiting this hill a hundred years from now. Perhaps the schoolboy names and dates will offer a tiny glimpse into the lives of the boys who once attended the school. Perhaps someone will even wonder what "Metallica" was, can you eat it?
And perhaps Tipp-Ex will still be there, gleaming defiantly on the rock.
So, I am beginning to see the graffiti on my little hill a little differently. I still want to protect the rocks and document anything that might be significant, but I am also reminded that people have been leaving their marks on the world for a very long time.
The question is not whether every mark is art, but what happens when a mark survives long enough for someone to start asking questions about it.
And if that day ever comes, I sincerely hope the archaeological report acknowledges the contribution of Tipp-Ex.
In the meantime, I shall continue investigating my little hill, protecting what I can, photographing what I find, and trying not to feel too envious of the longevity of schoolboy correction fluid.
Photographs by Jean Meintjes - amateur rock sleuth, reluctant graffiti enthusiast, and increasingly impressed Tipp-Ex observer.
You leave your name on my rocks, and I will, find you!
References and Further Reading
Tipp-Ex and BIC South Africa
BIC. Tipp-Ex® Correction Products. Official product information.
(https://mea.bic.com/en-za/stationery/correction)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/170129694940788/posts/801417298478688/
Herman Charles Bosman - Jeppe High Revisited
Bosman, H. C. 1946. “Jeppe High Revisited.” The South African Opinion, October 1946. Archival record, National English Literary Museum, Grahamstown.
(https://www.nationalarchives.gov.za/search-the-collections)
Chickens and Dinosaurs
Australian Museum. “The Living Dinosaurs.” Explains the evolutionary relationship between modern birds, including chickens, and theropod dinosaurs.
(https://australian.museum/learn/dinosaurs/the-living-dinosaurs/)
Padian, K., and Chiappe, L. M. 1998. “The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds.” Biological Reviews, 73(1): 1–42.
(https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.1997.tb00024.x)
Neanderthal Adhesives and Stone-Tool Hafting
Niekus, M. J. L. Th., et al. 2019. “Middle Paleolithic Complex Technology and a Neandertal Tar-Backed Tool from the Dutch North Sea.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(44): 22081–22087.
(https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1907828116)
Koch, T. J., and Schmidt, P. 2023. “Adhesive Strength and Rupture Behaviour of Birch Tars Made with Different Stone Age Methods.” Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, 6, article 8.
(https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-023-00135-1)
