Artifacts Assignment

Maeve C.

September 6th, 2012

G

Dear Journal,

I'm an archeologist in the year A.D. 4000. I'm searching for remnants of the people that used to live on this planet before us, the planet that we call home. I have been fairly lucky in my findings, as I have found many iPods and plastic spoons. The iPods are no use to us anymore, since all their screens are shattered, and now we have more advanced technology that does everything for us. I can't imagine how the people thousands of years ago lived- they had to go to school and learn from specialized academic trainers that they called "teachers." Other inconveniences that they lived with made the explanation for their death obvious.


Good morning Journal,
Today I was up at the crack of dawn to continue where I left off with my studies, and wouldn't you believe it, but it may have done me a bit of good. I teleported to a mysterious island called "Byfield." It had lots of trees. I did a little bit of digging when my robot sensed something beneath the earth about seven feet or so down. I reset the robot's commands and ordered it to retrieve it. After a few minutes, it pulled out an item and handed it to me. It looked like one of those old-fashioned things that I believe were called "books." I opened up the front cover to find lots of paper inside little plastic cases. Attached  to the paper by some means of some adhesive substance were photographs, artistically placed onto the page with the addition of colorful scraps of paper and writing. I kept turning the pages, which were filled with ancient photographs. I opened up a contraption located inside my robot and scanned it under the laser point. The robot registered for a second and then told me that it was called a scrapbook. In the olden days, it was used to document photographs in a creative way. Robot told me that it was a sign that the prior humans had a trace of intelligence, a fact I found hard to believe. Still, I had to accept it, as the evidence was directly on the screen. My mechanical friend also informed me that the person who had created it believed in keeping friends and family close, but liked crafts and creative thinking. I assumed that the person that was in the photographs most frequently was the one that had created the photo record. I will make a note to myself that I should try this spot again with hopes for more evidence.


Journal-
I know you'll be greatly fascinated to know that I found other piece of evidence, supposedly by the same girl. I scanned the pages of the scrapbook and found fingerprints. Checking the files, I concluded that the girl who made the scrapbook was named Maeve. Peculiar name, and even more peculiar is what I found lying beneath the dirt today. It was another piece of paper, but thinner and longer. It had some words centered on the top but it was so faded that I could hardly tell what it read. I could make out the word "Burlington," but it's probably something only she and others of her generation understood the meaning of. I skimmed the rest of the paper with my eyes before being able to make out another word. That word was "sweater." And just with that word, the mystery deepened. Then another symbol caught my eye. "$." Finally, it all made sense. It must have been some sort of record of purchases that Maeve had made. She must have gone to a store or place named Burlington and gotten a sweater. It showed me that she loved to shop and spend money, but judging by the small amount that she had bought, she also liked to save her money- but for what? Digging some more, I found another one of those little purchase records, this time for a toy. She must have been generous and loved to give gifts. Perhaps she had smaller siblings that she gave this particular toy to? Despite my findings, I felt nowhere close to figuring out who she was as a person.


I think I've figured it out, Journal.
I found another artifact representing Maeve's life and I can almost figure out how she lived. This new artifact was what Robot told me to be a "textbook." Flipping through it, there were more words that I have ever read in my life, and pictures of people and places that I never knew existed. Many of the men in the book had strange facial hair and weird hats. This textbook must have been what she used in school; it shows me that she was a determined student that worked hard to succeed in life. She worked on remembering the history of the people who lived before her. Maybe if we had those textbook things today, we would know more about Maeve and her people. I can see it now though- Maeve lived with her family and siblings more than a millennium before us, and she didn't spend all of her time with technology, rather, she worked to preserve memories in books. She was an academic who cared about obtaining knowledge, but cared even more about the people around her.
Journal, I think I've figured it out.