What would baffle future archeologists about your home area?

[Dinwar]

Don't many of these examples of future bafflement require some sort of humongous historical discontinuity?

Yes--but that's because that's what happens. There are a lot of artifacts that took a long time to understand, and many we still don't. Then there is the social aspect of much of it--without a working knowledge of the society something was found in understanding what it is is often impossible. Let's say you find a bit of braided copper wire. Most of us would think it's trash, or leftovers from some electrical work. But it's not--it's a circlet worn by someone in the SCA. Without knowing about the existence of Medieval re-enactment groups, you completely screw up your interpretation. Similarly, knowledge about subcultures, counter-cultures, and even aspects of that culture that don't have any correleation to today's culture is necessary to put artifacts in their proper place.

This is why I deal with animals. You find a dire wolf bone and you know what it is!

 

[rjh01]

Except for all those countless billions of suns out there. There might be a teensy bit of helium in those.

They will know what helium IS. But there will not be much of it people can use. Bit hard to use helium that is in a sun.

 

[bruto]

I was immediately put in mind of the old David Macauley book Motel of the Mysteries, in which future archaeologists misinterpret just about everything. The premise, as I recall, is pretty simple, which is that if your only basis for reconstructing an idea of some primitive religion is an assortment of artifacts for which you can think of no other use, the results can be pretty funny.

 

[TragicMonkey]

They will know what helium IS. But there will not be much of it people can use. Bit hard to use helium that is in a sun.

It's hard for us to get that helium. Futuremen will dispatch their robodrones and sit back and sip hoverwine as they watch the helium come pouring into their triangular spacebase.

 

[geni]

It's hard for us to get that helium. Futuremen will dispatch their robodrones and sit back and sip hoverwine as they watch the helium come pouring into their triangular spacebase.

Doubtful. Stellar uplift is energy inefficient compared to targeting the smaller gas giants.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Doubtful. Stellar uplift is energy inefficient compared to targeting the smaller gas giants.

Not with the Xrixulaxi blockade around the solar system, it's not.

 

[ddt]

A couple of hundred years from now, archaeologists will dig at the beach of Scheveningen and find, a.o., a comb. A hundred meters from that, they'll find a single of André van Duin's carnival hit "Me kammetje" (warning: very simple music). Would they connect the dots?

(The whole text of the song is "m'n kammetje is zoek", repeated ad nauseaml in English: I lost my comb).

 

[ddt]

This is why I deal with animals. You find a dire wolf bone and you know what it is!

Except then for that animal that was found this week in the Netherlands and which is being discussed whether it's a wolf or a wolfhound or another breed of dog. Wolves haven't been sighted around here for over 150 years.

(sorry for the derail, couldn't resist).

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Yes--but that's because that's what happens.

When was the last time there was a discontinuity that would leave someone baffled as to the identify of the ruins of something like the Gateway Arch?

I'm not saying it can never happen, but I think it's pretty unlikely that it will happen while enough of the Arch remains for future people to understand its shape. (And that's a pretty long time. The bottom 2/3 is essentially filled in solid with concrete.)

I understand minor bafflement about minor artifacts--like the small "trash" sort of items you mention. And future archaeologists aren't likely to feel baffled about such things as they are to simply draw the wrong conclusion and not care all that much about whether or not they're correct.

But the Gateway Arch, and similar large structures--not so much.

Even so, there would have to be a pretty major event to create a discontinuity in civilization such that virtually all written knowledge is lost.

 

[Delvo]

A stack of stones in the middle of a field would be strange, but the Arch has internal structure that will make its purpose obvious even once it's old enough to be lying on the ground with nothing but rust where all of its iron/steel used to be and half of its concrete reduced to gravel. There's an elevator system which, even if the smaller gears & cables were all gone, would still be clear from the hollow shafts with vehicles inside them, plus the larger pieces of the machinery for it.

 

[C_Felix]

Billy Connolly had a joke along these lines. He was talking about airplanes and flight safety and all that jazz.

"In the highly unlikely situation of the loss of power in all four engines, we'd go into the ground like a f--k--g dart. We'd be much obliged if you wear your life jacket on the way down. This will do you no good at all. But, when archeologists find you in two hundred years, they'll think there was a river here."

 

[Dinwar]

When was the last time there was a discontinuity that would leave someone baffled as to the identify of the ruins of something like the Gateway Arch?

We've missed entire freaking pyramids because they were simply too big to notice.

But you misunderstand. I'm not saying that they won't figure out how it was put together. The real issue is that they won't understand WHY it was put together. Without understanding what Manifest Destiny did to this country, without understanding the drive to the West, without understanding why St. Louis, the arch would just be a metalic bit of odd archetecture. Yeah, they may be able to put it back together (though I doubt it, given how the structure was put together), but they'd never understand what its purpose was.

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

I always pity whoever has to dig up Las Vegas and then make sense of the architecture there.

 

[Polaris]

Except then for that animal that was found this week in the Netherlands and which is being discussed whether it's a wolf or a wolfhound or another breed of dog. Wolves haven't been sighted around here for over 150 years.

(sorry for the derail, couldn't resist).

Ok, now it's extinct!

I always pity whoever has to dig up Las Vegas and then make sense of the architecture there.

Maybe they'll think it's the result of a great worldwide flood that just deposited the world's monuments there.

I suspect future archaeologists will think that for some religious reason, women were ritually buried with two plastic orbs on their chests.

 

[Jim_MDP]

If we speculate that the items would actually last long enough, the US would have to win the silly sweepstakes.

Fifty foot tall wooden chair; twenty foot wide frying pan; giant balls of twine or rubber bands; gawd knows what other oddities spread across the country.

 

[BTMO]

The Parliament building in Wellington is called the Beehive.

Future people will (naturally) assume we kept giant bees there.

To be fair, giant bees would be more useful.

 

[Kestrel]

A geologic record indicating it was only two hundred years between the stone age and smart phones.

 

[G6000]

A 2004 ballot with George Bush's name on it.

A 2012 ballot with Barack Obama's name on it.

"These must predate the proverb, 'Fool me once...'"

 

[Dr. Keith]

I imagine them selling silicone bracelets based on the ancient healing secrets of our time. This makes me smile.

 

[Polaris]

If we speculate that the items would actually last long enough, the US would have to win the silly sweepstakes.

Fifty foot tall wooden chair; twenty foot wide frying pan; giant balls of twine or rubber bands; gawd knows what other oddities spread across the country.

There's the world's biggest popcorn ball being assembled as I type for the Texas State Fair. But I suspect it will be eaten by the world's largest genetically engineered mutant seagull well before it gets a chance to fossilize.