A few decades ago, a man named Thornwell Jacobs decided to design a crypt full of classified documents, historical objects and a bunch of things that were representative to the ’40s era. Located at the Oglethorpe University of Atlanta, this time capsule will not (under any circumstances) be opened until 8113 – quite a long time, huh?
Jacobs came up with the idea of creating a time capsule-crypt after discovering the tomb of King Tut in 1920. After studying the tomb, which was actually quite well preserved, Jacobs was so disappointed of how little it included, that he realized the importance of leaving a trace of civilization behind.
Well, of course, some of the items included in the crypt won’t be helpful, but rather pieces of evidence of how people used to live in the 20th century. Among other things, Jacobs put cigarettes, fake eyelashes, women’s stockings, Donald Duck or puppets.
But it’s not just fun and games: the crypt also includes 640,000 pages of original historical materials raging from the Koran to the Gone With The Wind screenplay. Also, he added an innovative device that would help future civilizations read English, in case the language would be dead by then. (quite a weird thought though)
In a way, it all makes sense! Think about how much we could’ve learnt if the Ancient civilisations found a way to preserve their objects for the future.
In fact, making sure that all of the objects included in the crypt would survive thousands of years was a real concern of this project – but the team found a solution. Right before sealing the stainless steel dor, all of the air in the room was replaced by inert gasses and each object was checked and tested before being placed there.
I’d say that we’re looking forward to people’s reaction when they open the door, but.. oh, well!
