Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by JoeAltmaier on Sunday February 23, 2025 @02:17PM
(#43152204)
Toilets. Pottery outlasts everything else.
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Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by AlotOfReading on Sunday February 23, 2025 @02:27PM
(#43152301)
Earthenware and unfired pottery degrade extremely quickly once water can get to the actual material. Porcelain can last longer, but it's not nearly as durable in the ground as stone or even metal. I'd expect granite countertops and metal tools to be more commonly found by future archaeologists.
Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by loloquwowndueo on Sunday February 23, 2025 @02:38PM
(#43152427)
I have metal tools that are almost completely eaten by rust. No way these will last a few thousand years.
Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by AlotOfReading on Sunday February 23, 2025 @02:53PM
(#43152599)
Maybe not those specific tools, but I have personal experience with finding metal tools that are thousands of years old as an archaeologist. Earthenware is a relatively uncommon find anywhere that has water because it degrades so quickly. It used to be common to build clay paths by scattering broken earthenware and letting it degrade naturally. Porcelain is more durable chemically, but it's too fragile mechanically to survive intact in large pieces in most cases. I've only ever found it when buried in situ.
Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by inglor_cz on Sunday February 23, 2025 @04:26PM
(#43153388)
The ancients didn't have toilet bowls. I guess this sort of sanitary porcelain is going to last longer than fine 18th century coffee cups.
Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by codr7 on Sunday February 23, 2025 @05:20PM
(#43153764)
I would suspect those tools are made out of metals of very different composition though.
Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by deadbabe on Sunday February 23, 2025 @03:29PM
(#43152933)
What about engine blocks
Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by nativeit on Sunday February 23, 2025 @08:42PM
(#43155056)
We’ll have long since melted them down for arms when the Final War comes between humanity and NeuraLink’s jar of formaldehyde preserving the distilled and partially sentient spite of a >400-year old Elon Musk.
Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by JoeAltmaier on Monday February 24, 2025 @08:07AM
(#43159099)
I don't think water degrades a toilet. Not following.
And, the earliest artifacts ever found - partially fired throwaway pottery at an ancient fire site?
Re:Technofossils: Humanity's eternal testament will be plast...
by AlotOfReading on Monday February 24, 2025 @09:24AM
(#43159864)
Porcelain is more stable, as mentioned. You'll still have issues if the protective glaze cracks, but it won't completely dissolve on you like earthenware would in the same situation.
I'm not sure I understand what you're referencing with the pottery. The oldest pottery I'm aware of is 18-20k years old and was found in a cave with exceptional preservation conditions. That's fairly old, but not remotely the earliest or indicative of special longevity. We have lithics that entirely predate the evolution of genus Homo (Lomekiwi tools, 3.3M years old) as an example.