What exactly is a time capsule? It is a collection of objects that reflect the way people lived at in a certain era or time period. A time capsule doesn't always have to be a container with items put together and buried in the ground. I think a great example of a time capsule was King Tut's tomb. In the tomb were items from the period of time in which the king lived. We got to see paintings, sculptures, furniture, weapons and all sorts of interesting things. This was not meant to be a time capsule but it was, never the less.

Time Capsule Being Buried
Photo Source: 4woman.gov

In the 19th century the most common material for time capsules was copper sheets or tinplate. They would be shaped into tubes or sometimes into a box shape and soldered closed after filling. Unfortunately, a lot of times, moisture would get trapped in them causing corrosion which damaged or destroyed the contents much of the time. The lucky people are those people who find a time capsule made from a glass bottle which is sealed and unbroken. These bottles made fine time capsules. There sometime is a problem with paper. Some types give off acidic fumes and in a sealed environment these fumes have no where to go and this speeds up the destruction of the paper itself.

In China the first emperor was Qin Shi Huang. His reign was in the 3rd century B.C. He built an army of thousands of life sized terra cotta figures. The estimate is that about 7,000 were made and buried. This could be considered a time capsule along with the emperor's tomb, which is nearby. From these figures we have learned what the soldiers of the period wore and what their weapons were like. The tomb itself has not been opened because the Chinese government hasn't granted permission but it is said that there are huge open areas with seas of liquid mercury and jewels in the ceiling representing rivers and the stars.

Sometimes nature provides us with time capsules in the form of amber. These amber chunks sometimes contain well preserved ancient insects. When sealed in amber the insects dna is accessible. This truly enables us to get a look at the distant past. In a way diamonds are also time capsules. They reveal the cycling of sulfur between the Earth's crust, atmosphere, and mantle some 3 billion years ago.

Did you know that nine out of ten time capsules buried by people are never found?

The Great Pyramid was really a time capsule
Picture Source: Free Stock Photos

Some people consider cave paintings as the first time capsules. There argument is that the paintings reveal the life and times of the people of that era. Many show important information on how they lived and hunted. These pictures also show the type of animals they ate and used for clothing. In this way they do seem to qualify.

In 1912 there was a fire in the old barracks building at Annapolis. In the rubble a time capsule was discovered. It was a copper box and had a document in it. The document contained the names of the people who built the building. The building had been constructed in 1859. This was not the only time capsule discovered at Annapolis. Another time capsule was dug up in 1966. It was buried in 1923 and was a metal box. Much of the contents had been destroyed but a Masonic medal was recovered along with a Masonic medallion, business card and Masonic medallion with a ribbon.

Colorado Springs and Detroit both opened 100 year old time capsules in 2001. The metal box from Colorado Springs contained over 100 essays and photographs and showed what community life was like at the time. There was even a letter from Teddy Roosevelt in the capsule, it was written before he became president. The capsule was the size of a foot locker. It also contained old fashioned cylinder type phonograph records. One man found his family tree dating back to 1777 which had been put into the capsule by his great-great-grandfather. The Detroit time capsule contained many letters.

In 1976 a time capsule was to be buried It was called the Bicentennial Wagon Train time capsule. It had the signatures of 22,000,000 Americans in it. The sealing ceremony was to be held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania but when President Gerald Ford arrived he found that the capsule had been stolen.

In 1983 the members of the cast of M*A*S*H the TV show buried a time capsule in the parking lot of 20th Century Fox. The lot has now shrunk and no one seems to know where the capsule is. It contains props and costumes for the show.

Do we now have a chance to make a cyber time capsule? Who is to say that a website with all our pertinent information that is opened today will not last for quite a long time? As long as the server is active the site may be.

Could there be time capsules on other planets such as Mars? We know that humans have a desire to try and preserve a piece of their way of life to show other later generations. If life existed on another planet such as Mars, the chances are that the Martians would have felt the same way. Maybe future explorers of other worlds will also find time capsules, now wouldn't that be interesting?

Could there be time capsules buried in the Cydonia region of Mars?
Picture Source: NASA Viking Picture*

*NASA had discredited this picture stating the face was caused by shadows and published a new picture that shows no face, but an eroded mound. The picture, however, has been challenged by many as being incomplete and missing many shades of gray to hide its true nature.