Mine plaque „Strecke Gaidarka”

An information plaque in the shape of a rectangle was made of wood. The face side is stained white. On this background, the inscription is placed: “Strecke Gaidarka”.
The face is covered with numerous signatures of miners in pencil. it was mentioned in mine descriptions as early as the beginning of the 17th century. On the plaque there are names and dates from 1878-1969. These are probably the names of the miners who signed their names on the plaque in pencil or crayon. This is not an unusual situation - in the mine the names of miners or visitors to the mine are often inscribed on the beams of the roof-supporting box-cribs in the chambers, on the wooden elements of the timbering of the galleries. The oldest documented graffiti is the name “Johannes Baptista Bottagiso” and the date “1590” written on a box-crib in the Piaski Stare chamber on level i of the Wieliczka mine. Why did people sign in the mine workings? Was it to immortalise one’s name, to make one’s name a part of the mine history, to mark one’s place of work?