"Messing With Future Archaeologists!" Topic

These are just some things that might really confuse future archaeologists thousands of years from now . . .

Theme hotels:
Luxor in Las Vegas
Atlantis in the Bahamas

Movie sets:
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TMP link

Clothing:
Designer labels might lead future scientists to think that mankind is owned by a few all-controlling masters.

What else about our society and remains do you think will confuse future human (on non-human) archaeologists when they dig up our stuff and our bones?

CC

that I buried some junky low grade Roman Coins in the park across the street from my house to mess with the heads of the detectorists (I live in the USA).

"Designer labels might lead future scientists to think that mankind is owned by a few all-controlling masters."

And the evidence *against* this is what exactly?

:)

I used to have a 1943 Nazi 5-Pfennig piece, given to me by a friendly Belgian barman once.

I lost it. It would be funny to think that because of this future archeologists might deduce that the Nazi war-machine got as far as the Welsh Border before it was stopped.

Every time I mix some concrete around the house, I throw an old un-loved miniature in the mix.

Actually, if they unearth statues of people in the late 20th and 21st century, they'll find those of Saddam and Kim Jong Il, and think they ruled the world.

Democracies just don't turn out enough statues of leaders.

The worst thing is that they'll dig out a bunch of silver disc with pictures on the top and wouldn't know what to do with them.

OPne thing that will baffle future archaeologists is the data storage systems we now use. every 5 or 6 years, it becomes obsolete. Anyone use 5-1/4" floppys anymore? Beta or VHS?

It also seems that the data being faithfully broadcast back to Earth by the Pioneer probes can only be read on "computers" which are no longer made, nor are the spare parts.
I believe that they have alerted us to the Cylon invasion fleet, no one is listening.

Maybe they will find all of our discarded Frisbees and think that our toys truly reflected our technological level, and that WE were the UFOs that were abducting their kind years before.

CC

I think they'd be amazed that we created a massive, worldwide, networked digital storage system for pornography. Further research would show that a few niche groups and companies also used this network for social or commercial purposes.

And how exactly would they unearth this after nukes and emps fry all that pr0n?

I'm going to design and bury human baby dolls all along the coast of NJ. The dolls will be mute and accompanied by talking ape dolls.

What of Car-henge, or those Cadillacs buried at odd angles down in Texas? I wonder what they will think of all the fantasy/Sci-fi media. I think that's why aliens are constantly anal probing us. They see all the TV transmissions of superheros and such and are looking for them among us. I bet the biggest mystery they will never solve is why do 7-11s have locks on the doors if they are open 24/7/365.

On this same line, I can't remember in what skyscraper that the movie set was actually built in for the 1982 horror movie, "Q". They built a hugh nest and an egg at the top of the building. In the movie, it was suppose to be an egg of Quetzlcoatl in the Chrysler Building.

After filming the movie, they left the prop "nest & egg" in the building. Many years later, building maintanence people freaked out when they saw the very large nest and egg, and not knowing it was a prop.

It was mention in the liner notice of the special edition of the VCR release of the movie.

Someone – I thought it was David Macaulay (of "Castle" and "Cathedral" fame), but maybe not – wrote a book about archaeologists in the waaaaay distant future excavating a hotel; it was quite amusing how they reconstructed many of the artifacts.

When I lived in Clovis my friends and I used to go shooting in what we thought was a quarry. Turned out to be the dig site for the Clovis man research. If any 25.000 year old skulls turn up with 9mm bullet holes in them early tool use will have a new meaning.

I use to say at military rifle ranges that one day archeologist will find these sites and think a great battle will have taken place there. The seige would have lasted for decades making the seige of Troy look like a summer outing. They'll point to the berm and say " the brave defenders make their stand along this ridge…."

What if they unearthed a computer that still had a few days' worth of spam in the in-box? Would they conclude that Nigeria was the wealthiest nation on earth?

Well, if you really want to mess with them in the far, far future, you get together with a machinist and construct a bronze box covered with weird symbols, the interior of which is lead-lined, with a precision mechanism within that activates when the box is disturbed. Then you bury it someplace where they'll find it. Millenia later….

"Hey, do you hear a ticking sound too…?"

This thread reminds me of a TV commercial I really enjoyed. It ran during the 80's "cola wars" and showed a futuristic archaeology team picking through some 20th century ruins. One of the team members called a professor over …"come see this…what is it?" He held up a soda can.

The professor says something to the effect of "I have no idea, I've never seen this before".

Then the whole team starts drinking cans from the rival company. Great ad.

Funny thing though…I can't remember if it was Coke or Pepsi that the team was drinking. I guess it was a sucky ad in that repsect.

It has always amused me to think of being buried with a lindin wood shield across my legs and a spear at my side.

Of course I also think it would be cool to have a solar cell powered PC built into a tomb that plays sounds and music on key dates. Maybe even turn on a light from time to time.

from MWEAVER:
Someone – I thought it was David Macaulay (of "Castle" and "Cathedral" fame), but maybe not – wrote a book about archaeologists in the waaaaay distant future excavating a hotel; it was quite amusing how they reconstructed many of the artifacts.

If that's the book I'm thinking of, it was called Motel of the Mysteries and it was a hoot. When I first ran across it I was working for a cultural resource management company (contract archeologists) as an editor and it rang absolutely true, from the stilted academic writing style to the wonderful misapprehensions about what some of the artifacts were (archeologist rule #1: if you don't have the faintest idea what something was used for, claim it had some religious significance).

LT

I just hope they find those socks our washer keeps losing! If they find enough they may have several matching sets and a few spares. ;-)

I wonder what they will think if they unearth any records of "American Idol" and their spin-offs.

CC

They'll conclude that the primitives of THIS area had hundreds of gods, mostly of war, which they cast in metal and lavished paint upon…..

A friend of mine who is a Celtic style artist takes his cordless Dremel to the beach with him sometimes(he gets bored at the beach but his wife loves it!). He'll pick up rocks and carve a simple design into them. Then he throws them back into the water as far as he can. It won't fool an archaeologist but for the average joe picking one up when they finally wash back in it'll be a puzzle.

I think most of the public art erected in recent years will confuse future archaeologists utterly. It certainly confuses folk now…

James: Why are those lamp-posts so weird looking?
Me: Allegedly they are reminiscent of Bristol's maritime heritage.
James: I'd prefer it if they were a little more reminiscent of lamp-posts…

Ludwig: What's that on College Green? It looks like a cross between stonehenge and a dry ski slope.
Me: knows – it's art.

Hey, be nice to archaeologists – we're poor, and anthropologists gets all the hot grad students. ;)

That said, my plans for my own elaborate tomb complex will make Cheops roll over in his … well … tomb complex.

Think of what they will say 500 – 1000 years from now when they find this place in Pennsylvania:

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All the reenactor gear. Imagine how conflated c. 600 years is to somebody 3,000 years in the future. Who would be able to tell whether MY rivetted mail shirt is a 21st century, or 15th century one? Same with the weapons. The bastard sword on my wall is probably better than the ones of the 15th century, but it sure aint an "original."

Reminds me of the Japanese penchant for Americana collectibles, in the story "Man in the High Castle" {alternate history, post WW2 story): there was a hugh underground manufacturing industry going on, creating the items to sell to credulous Japanese collectors, none of it real, but only the most expert collector could possibly tell the difference. No archeologist "thousands of years in the future" would have a clue….

1066.us

I was thinking of being buried with my armies. Something like the First Emperor of China but in 25mm…

bjporter, just don't tell us where you live. Ever heard of grave robbers?

I read a short sci-fi story once where an alien civilisation finds a scorched and dead planet. Their archaeologists only dig up one thing that might indicate what the creatures had looked like. It was an image of Mickey Mouse…

Motel of the Mysteries is great! I always wanted to make a ruined 25mm "Toot and C'mon" motel.

I've also thought about burying some of my lower grade Roman coins in the yard or a local park, but I can't bring myself to do it. One can never have too mane Fel. Temp. Reparatios!

What if they can't tell the difference between 2nd Century and 21st century clothing, or assume that the Romans made t-shirts. They will want to know why size 40 clothes (XL) are bigger than size 50 (L), and size 1000 are sooooo much smaller

Thgen again I seem to recall the old adage about buildings in the Middle east if they were reasonably rectangular and showed organization, obviously they were military sites!

Once on a tour of Bath to Avebury the bus driver mentioned a local feature the so-called "looney neolithic" barrows which nobody had figured out the purposed for. A tourist from Palm Springs after digesting that had a great reason – why UFO landing pads of course. She was firmly convinced even after he pointed out that a civilization with a technology capable of traveling such distances was unlikely to need the locals to stop activities like groomin themselves of insects and build landing facilities.

"Motel of Mysteries" it is – thanks! And it is Macauley – I guess I just didn't wade through enough of the 220+ hits you receive when you search for him on Amazon.

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Why mess with future archaeologists , get them now while you
can still enjoy it.

Nah, all the Interstates and Millions of Devotional Miniature Die Cast Metal vehicles will convince them we made a cult of Motor Cars.

Oh Wait- we do.

All our cute little figures will have been melted down, except for a few precious ones preserved as "Fine Art"

Or Primitives, like Strip Minifigs, etc.

They'll think that a whole town full of folks lived in a city with false fronts, speculating that they were members of a bizarre cult that had rejected all material possessions or were the subjects of a special study.

The "new" Hollywood will then write an entire television show depicting this culture and what happened to its members, after being adapting from the Acadamy Award winning film.

It will hit #1 and remain one of the most popular shows for ten years, and become one of the top ten of all time.

As an extension of this question, how much time will they believe elapsed from the invention of the airplane until man landing on the moon and the space shuttle.

JackWhite

They will wonder how there could have been a "baby boom", when most married couples of that time (1940s and 1950s) were depicted in film as sleeping in separate beds!

CC

No problem, CC, they were allowed to copulate as long as both persons had at least one foot on the ground. (A sacrifice I'd happily make in the case of Laura Petrie!)

My grandfather likes to buy ancient coins and toss them into active archaelogical sites….does that count? ;-)

When I die, I'm going to be buried in a lead sarcophagus with the inscription of my name and then, "Conquerer of Mars & Emperor of Antartica."

That'll confuse them for sure.

PH,

I like that one! LOL.

CC

They'll be even more confused if we told them that we had archaeologists like this:

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karacooney.com/gallery.php
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link

CC

Mathias,I remember the Ad you're talking about,it was for Pepsi. i even found a copy on YouTube YouTube link

LOL.

CC

I keep imagining a future Tony Robinson having a field day on a landfill site.

I've developed a sudden interest in Egyptology.

Mark

"These are just some things that might really confuse future archaeologists thousands of years from now"

Dont forget curious hordes of carefully painted small bits of lead found in deposits around the world!

Have some claw marks carved into the inside roof of the coffin and have your body posed to look like you were flailing about and screaming.

If we could somehow persuade a large number of our friends and neighbors to do the same, we'll really freak the archeologists out.