2023-12-29 12:04:00
The Crypt of Civilization is a kind of “time capsule” created by Thornwell Jacobs, a historian inspired by the lack of solid information we have regarding ancient people. With this, the North American professor decided to create a way to preserve the “traces” of our society in films, books and recordings stored in a module.
Last Thursday (28), this “capsule” completed 83 years since it was sealed. The expectation is that the crypt not be reopened until the year 8,113that is, it will only be explored once more in 6,090 years.
To accomplish this, Jacobs filled a large room — located at Oglethorpe University, Georgia — with artifacts from the 1930s, as well as historical elements dating back the last 6,000 years. The environment was designed to function as a kind of “pharaoh’s tomb”, as in Ancient Egypt, which preserves the monarch’s relics and valuable items.
In the case of the Crypt of Civilization, there are no items of value such as precious stones or jewelry. Instead, included are recordings of clarinetist Artie Shaw, who was popular in the 1930s, one hundred books recorded on microfilm, and films showing photographed events from the year 1898 onwards. There is also a Donald Duck doll.
Tech
03 Mar
Tech
May 27
Paul Hudson, co-founder of the International Time Capsule Society at Oglethorpe University, once described the crypt as “a living, breathing thing.” “Can you imagine an anthropologist opening it in the year 8113? It would be like a treasure. Even things like dental floss would be fascinating,” said the expert in a 1993 publication.
To avoid any language barrier between ours and the future society that encounters the Crypt of Civilization, Jacobs included an object called a “language integrator”, which displays images of objects and their respective names written in English. At the same time, a voice on the phonograph would pronounce the term.
The date set for the opening of the crypt will be 6,177 years following its sealing. This is the same interval that passed between the creation of the Egyptian calendar and the conception of the idea of the Crypt of Civilization by Jabos in 1936.
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