[MR] Archaeology News: Noto Castle Graffiti

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today Archaeology News is hosting a story about 16th to 17th century
graffiti at the ruined Noto Castle in Sicily.

The medieval castle was used as a prison during the 16th century and into
the 17th century until it was destroyed in 1693 by an earthquake. The
inmates spend their time scratching drawings into the stones in their cell
(the article implies the prisoners were all crammed into one cell). Now
modern scanning and imaging techniques have recovered the fading graffiti.
The images mainly depict morris game boards and galleys, possibly ships the
imprisoned men had rowed.

The story is found at
https://archaeologymag.com/2025/11/ancient-prison-graffiti-in-sicily/ .

Images of Noto Castle and a gloss of its history are at
https://www.castles.nl/noto-castle .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.