Archeologist’s Log, 3034

Do you ever wonder what an archeologist’s opinion will be, a thousand years from now? What might they say about us when they dig up whole neighborhoods buried by time, sediment, dirt, or disaster?

I imagine that they will ascribe a lot more organization and group motive to the underground utilities they will find, especially when they see so many neighborhoods ringed by roads. Will they understand the word subdivision, or will they just think these are communities of like-minded people who banded together, like a clan? A political unit? A religious unit?

Despite the electronic records we have now — and how we say things like “electrons are forever” and “internet posts never go away” — I imagine that most of that info won’t be available a thousand years from now. I mean, we need special technology to retrieve things from floppy disks anymore, and those were state of the art not long ago.

Archeologist’s Log, 3034

We know we've hit the ruins
of 2024 when we find the cable
buried three feet down

in a narrow trench,
dead for lack of light,
meant for optics but kept

in the dark all these ages.
This place was built before
the satellites failed,

before electricity
ran away with the moon.
Built even earlier than the 2050s

we aimed for. Also unearthed
water lines in separate trenches;
signs of drilling, then patching

of now-crumbled concrete slabs.
Perhaps to reach gas lines
for maintenance, connection?

They must have joined up—
hundreds of families behind
long-lost roads that ringed this place

to afford such a retrofit.
Unusual, such community.
Not seen since the dark began

and plenty begat greed.

This poem presupposes another Dark Age will occur, one in which satellites and electricity are not available. What covers up the subdivision? And why bother excavating it? Like any project manager, the poem’s speaker assumes a certain amount of background knowledge need not be supplied. Which makes the archeologist’s notes just as cryptic as those we might leave today.

These days, we don’t always know how to interpret evidence left behind from one or two thousand years ago (or more). I assume we’ll have similar difficulty in the future. Perhaps that will be for different reasons – instead of lack of evidence perhaps there will be too much. And the various ways to interpret the evidence will muddy the waters.