What will the future find?

I was having a conversation the other day that wandered onto fast food packaging, landfills, and archaeology—I know you're thrilled already, but bear with me for a moment. I had been watching Time Team, and it got me thinking.

The Challenge of Archaeology in the Dark Ages

Archaeology of the "Dark Ages" (5th to 10th centuries – Early Middle Ages) is notoriously difficult. There are few written sources, wooden structures that leave little imprint, and a myriad of other factors that make reconstructing or understanding exactly what happened very challenging. If you go back more than a thousand years, beyond the Romans from two thousand years ago, you enter the Iron, Bronze, and Stone Ages. Here, people talk about their ancestors and try to give meaning to henges, standing stones, and barrows. Yet, those meanings change over time. Almost always, it’s guesswork (educated, to be sure) and subject to our own time's interpretation.

What Will Future Archaeologists Discover?

So, what happens when, in two thousand years' time, archaeologists examine our world and how we lived our lives? What will they find, and what interpretations will they offer? Assume, for a moment, that written records exist in fewer numbers and that they are looking only at the artifacts we leave behind.

This is where fast food came into the conversation. A lot of what we throw away is packaging, and that may become the pottery much prized by today's archaeologists. It will serve as evidence of consumption and change, helping to date each layer of earth they dig through. The subtle changes in the Golden Arches over the years, the way Colonel Sanders' beard changes, and the material the Burger King box is made from—each one useful for determining a precise date.

The Significance of Fast Food Rubbish

Worse still, perhaps they'll see this rubbish all clumped together in such an amount that they ascribe religious significance to it. Much like we do with brooches, symbols, statues, and swords deposited in water (cue Excalibur rising from the water and that Monty Python deconstruction of the political system at the time).

Maybe they'll assume that all the ancient fast food restaurants were our temples. Did we make offerings of coins (when we used them—I rarely carry cash these days; who does?)? Did we spend our time in devotion, praying to the saintly face of Colonel Sanders? Did we give homage to the King? Or, to be fair, how do you interpret Ronald McDonald? Is he a figure of justice for catching the Hamburglar? A god of fun and good times (the Bacchus of our age)? Or perhaps a figure of horror and fear (he is a clown, after all, and there are few funny clowns)? Maybe they'll even link McDonald's to Stephen King's IT.

Reflections on Our Modern World

It is these thoughts that fill my waking hours and conversations at times. I am not sure what that says about me, but I'll leave that to future archaeologists and historians to ponder upon.

As I reflect on this, I can’t help but wonder about the impact of our choices. What do our consumption habits say about us? Are we leaving behind a legacy worth remembering?

Now, Big Mac or a Zinger Tower?