# Burying a message for the future **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930 "2015-05-13T12:06:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/1 "2015-05-13T12:06:32Z")
I live near a rather large and old-ish cemetary, and as I walk past it I notice that there are a number of 19th-century tombstones which have weathered to the point of near-illegibility. Of course, the coffins and remains of these people are almost likely well-disintegrated, and this got me thinking: If I wanted to have a message buried with me rather than exposed to the elements (let’s say something on an 8.5" x 11" scale) that would outlast both me and my tombstone by centuries, enduring moisture and temperature changes and the normal degradation of materials - what should it be made out of to last as long as possible? Engraved metal encased in lucite? Some form of plastic? Carved stone? (Let’s stick to realistic materials here - a slab of diamond is not a reasonable option.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/2 "2015-05-13T12:49:35Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I live near a rather large and old-ish cemetary, and as I walk past it I notice that there are a number of 19th-century tombstones which have weathered to the point of near-illegibility. 19th century headstones were limited by stone cutting technology to relatively soft marble. The advent of pneumatic chisels, wire saws, air compressor sandblasting all contributed to the change from marble headstones to more durable granite headstone in the early 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/3 "2015-05-13T13:55:52Z")
A nice piece of etched granite should do it. Already a few millennia old and no value to attract grave robbers. More to the point - what could you possibly write that would be of interest to a future archaeologist? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/4 "2015-05-13T14:02:18Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > A nice piece of etched granite should do it. Already a few millennia old and no value to attract grave robbers. > > More to the point - what could you possibly write that would be of interest to a future archaeologist? Who knows? Maybe it’s a sentimental thing, like time capsules - I just want people of the far future to know I existed and what kind of person I was. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/5 "2015-05-13T14:02:59Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > what could you possibly write that would be of interest to a future archaeologist? Anything you say would be “of interest” to any future archaeologist worth his salt. We study everything ancient we can find. Interesting is easy. However, something significant… enlightening… those sorts of things, then as now, would be the hard part. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/6 "2015-05-13T14:08:23Z")
A piece of engraved titanium ought to last a good long while. Just find a machinist with a CNC machine in the phone book. You could have your entire life story engraved with .050 high letters into a 4’ x 8’ sheet of titanium. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/7 "2015-05-13T14:08:50Z")
A glass slab. Where the message is inside the glass. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/8 "2015-05-13T14:18:18Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > A piece of engraved titanium ought to last a good long while. Just find a machinist with a CNC machine in the phone book. You could have your entire life story engraved with .050 high letters into a 4’ x 8’ sheet of titanium. You could etch very small text using a photo etching process or using a laser etching process so you could probably get a large amount of text in a much smaller piece of metal. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/9 "2015-05-13T14:25:33Z")
A copy of the Rosetta Stone . . . with additional text in Klingon. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/10 "2015-05-13T14:31:14Z")
Actually, the Long Now Foundation is working on something called the Rosetta Disk, which is a three-inch diameter nickel disk with a large amount of text etched in very small print on it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/11 "2015-05-13T14:33:04Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > A glass slab. Where the message is inside the glass. But it will slowly sag and become an amorphous blob after a [del]hundred[/del] [del]thousand[/del] [del]million[/del] gazillion years. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/12 "2015-05-13T15:11:23Z")
Titanium slab encased in multiple layers of armored glass. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/13 "2015-05-13T19:10:26Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > A piece of engraved titanium ought to last a good long while. Just find a machinist with a CNC machine in the **phone book**. You could have your entire life story engraved with .050 high letters into a 4’ x 8’ sheet of titanium. _Bolding mine_. Maybe engrave the phonebook? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/14 "2015-05-13T19:41:46Z")
What are the odds ANYBODY would ever SEE any message that was buried along with me??? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/15 "2015-05-13T19:49:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > What are the odds ANYBODY would ever SEE any message that was buried along with me??? You could always have a slug of plutonium buried with you. Someone would come looking eventually. ---
**Author:** ![wisernow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@wisernow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wisernow)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/16 "2015-05-14T03:29:24Z")
Why wouldn’t a slab of clear hard plastic be good enough? Isn’t plastic non biodegradable? ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/17 "2015-05-14T05:04:44Z")
> [@wisernow](#): > > Why wouldn’t a slab of clear hard plastic be good enough? Isn’t plastic non biodegradable? UV if left exposed, fragmentation if buried. The standard granite grave stone with engraving more than 1/4" deep should last a few millennia. Have your “Thoughts for the Ages” buried with radioactive waste - wherever it gets put, somebody is going to have reason to move it - and they’ll find your “babble from some nobody in the 20th or 21st century”. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/18 "2015-05-14T08:55:50Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > 19th century headstones were limited by stone cutting technology to relatively soft marble. The advent of pneumatic chisels, wire saws, air compressor sandblasting all contributed to the change from marble headstones to more durable granite headstone in the early 20th century. Also, the major issue with marble weathering is acid rain. A tombstone from the 1860’s might be reduced to a whitish blob if it were in a big city but I’ve seen ones in western ghost towns that look like they were carved yesterday. At least in the US, acid rain is a lot less of a problem these days than it would have been for most of the time a 19th century tombstone spent outside. I suppose if we’re shooting for posterity, though, we can’t necessarily count on that continuing to be the case. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/19 "2015-05-14T09:33:11Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > What are the odds ANYBODY would ever SEE any message that was buried along with me??? Time and history are funny things. We’re fascinated by the lives of those who lived centuries ago, the details of which are often lost amidst the records of the lives of the rich and powerful, and when we find artifacts of “normal” people from the distant past they are endlessly studied and speculated about. So no one’s going to dig up the site you’re buried on for a few hundred years - who knows? Maybe in five hundred or a thousand years, when the world has changed so much that people living then won’t have the slightest clue what ordinary people were like now, ithe record you’ve left will get found and they’ll care. And if it isn’t found, well, you’ll still be dead. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930/20 "2015-05-14T22:36:03Z")
Your bigger problem will be to engrave your life story in some language that you feel confident will still be understood 10000 years from now. The suggestion to write it in multiple languages, like the Rosetta Stone, is a plausible start. This is a real, not hypothetical problem. Radioactive waste dumps can remain dangerously “hot” for many thousands of years. People (or whatever intelligent species, terran or alien) need to be warned to stay away from that shit, in some way that we can reasonably expect will be understood well into the indefinite distant future. I read an article on this once, some years ago. (Sorry, couldn’t find the cite.) Scientists who are trying to develop relatively safe ways to dispose of radioactive waste (e.g., burying it at the bottom of some Colossal Cave somewhere) are apparently rather at their wits’ ends trying to imagine some way to post warning signage that will not only physically last and remain legible for the long term, but also in some way that some intelligent entities of the future will likely be able to understand. ETA: AHA! Found an article on-line (possibly even the same one I originally saw): [Atomic Priesthoods, Thorn Landscapes, and Munchian Pictograms: How to communicate the dangers of nuclear waste to future civilizations](http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/green_room/2009/11/atomic_priesthoods_thorn_landscapes_and_munchian_pictograms.html), Juliet Lapidos, Slate, November 2009. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burying-a-message-for-the-future/719930.md?page=2)