Found in Old House Oct 2205

[Anonymous]

I'm about to seal a void in my house which quite possibly may never be re-visited for many, many years. It's a couple of cubic feet or so. I've stuffed newspapers, junk mail, old phone books and dead tape measures in every little place so far so there are already plenty of those. So far I've got an old working slr camera as the first deposit - what else might someone be interested to find in the distant future ? (The cat's 15 years old but don't even think about it ..)

 

[Anonymous]

Archaeology suggests that coins and pottery are good survivers, even of fire and subsequent burial, and provide good dating evidence. Ceramic material that has incised writing on it could be particularly valuable in the very long term.

 

[Anonymous]

Perhaps you could print out one of those interminable threads from PPUK and stick that in the void.

If there's room you might be able to squeeze some of the contributors in too.

 

[Anonymous]

What I've always wanted to know about in our place is the inhabitants. Who they were, what they did and did they love the old place too? How about photographs and short biogs. of yourself and family, in a sealed tin or some such? That would be a great find for someone in years to come-better than the cat bones we had anyway!

 

[Anonymous]

What about some digital media on a CD? You could store photo's, current affairs stories from the news and information about the current round of restoration. Put it in the tin of photo's mentioned below. The technology may have moved on leaps and bounds, but it's usually possible for us to reverse engineer things so I'm sure people in the far future would be able to get at the data with a bit of effort.

How about a book (digitised) and perhaps a film of our times too?

Sue

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah - I'm just not sure about the cd thing. Even if the cd standard lasts a while I'm not sure that the media itself lasts that long. I've got 3 or 4 year old CDs I can't read. I'll probably stick multiple cd copies of all my pictures in the hope that one might survive, or could be forensically brought back to life, if it really does stay there a long time.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree that CDs wont last more than a few years as they react with the environment - especially in the presence of moisture, but if you vacuum seal them or put them in a bag with some water absorbing granuals (the 'do not eat' packets you find in packaging) they should be fine. However after 20 years or so I predict that finding a machine that plays CDs will be less likely than buying a turntable today.

 

[Anonymous]

Writing in indian ink on archival quality paper will last a thousand years and more. CDs will disintegrate in relatively no time.

 

[Anonymous]

You'd be doing the future owners a real favour if you put in a bottle of a really good burgundy (laid down, of course). It'll probably be worth a fortune in 200 years time.
And if the Antiques Roadshow is to be believed, just about any currently popular toy will also be worth a packet, so long as you make sure it's in pristine condition and in the original packaging.

 

[Anonymous]

I've left you a message above, DP.

I couldn't lay down a bottle in that way. I'd end up I'm sure clawing through the brickwork one night in desperation...

I'm not actually sure I could seal up a void - there are places to store more treasures... (or junk, depending on your point of view...)