One point, if the human species went extinct at this point in its history, is that there are now over 6 billion of us. That’s a pretty small number by the standards of beetles, or even mice, but for critters massing on the order of a hundred kilograms and a couple of meters length, I think that’s probably a pretty high population. We’re also well distributed, on every major landmass except Antarctica (and there are even a few of us there), and on most of the minor islands as well. That would seem to at least up the odds of some of us being fossilized.
Another thing I wonder about is whether or not our practices for disposal of our dead would make any difference. On a geological timescale, would this business of embalming the heck out of dead bodies and sealing them up in expensive, hermetically sealed caskets make any difference? Would such bodies be either more or less likely to be fossilized and preserved on a geologic timescale?
And would any of this add up to far-future paleontologists finding us to be an oddly ubiquitous species, allowing them to put two and two together when they stumble across that fossilized cell phone or whatever the case may be?
Y"know, that’s not a half-bad idea. Voluntary fossilization. Create a system that will (in time) guarantee fossilization, and let volunteers let themselves be preserved for the future. Gotta be cheaper than those “frozen in ice” whacko ideas.
And a simple homestead or hippy commune likely could create something as sophisticated as a cell phone? I’d think critters that could create cell phones would have some cities.
I’ve read the one you’re thinking of, I can’t recall the title. But the artifact was a Walt Disney cartoon (not neccessarily Mickey mouse) not a watch.