Day 68: What we leave behind

I went to the Pyramids of Teotihuacan today. It was quite impressive. In its golden age the place used to be the largest city in Mexico (probably even the whole world) with 150.000 inhabitants. What is interesting, is that Teotihuananos (people form Teotihuacan) didn't leave any written words - in letters, hieroglyphs or any other way on either paper, clay, stone, papyrus... Nothing. We only know some things about it from archaeology and Aztec culture, who where neighbours of Teotihuacanos or lived around that place later.

It got me thinking. What if (well, not really, but What IF?) our civilization will come to an end in a month (December 21st, as some people say). What would we leave after us? Computer memory blanks out in a hundred years. And will later civilization understand what computer is? We don't even use stone anymore. Our houses are out of wood (200-300year max) or steel and glass (only rust and sand will be left in max 900 years). Books? How many of them do archaeologists find? Pottery, coins and stone is something that triggers their imagination. We use paper- and electronic money...

I'm not saying we wouldn't leave anything behind. But what does represent our lives now? I'd say electronic life. Economy is based on computers. Our lives are put into world wide web. Who prints their photos anymore? And just like that everything that we think is so important will be gone in one hundred years. Because hard drives can't keep the information for any longer. It will simply dissolve into thin air.

What will future archaeologists think about us? We don't bury people with their personal belongings (except a suit). So how to know what we use? Will our tallest buildings stay? Why did they want to reach the sky? - they might ask, - Was it for religion? Was a knife their main tool? Plastic will fall apart and only knives and tiny saws will be left...

We live for now. We look years into the future, but everything around us is temporary. And when we look back, see the glamour of the Renaissance, the struggles of Middle Ages and we think we are as high as civilization has ever came. But we look at our civilization. What about the other ones?

If no written word is left, does it mean they didn't know how to write? If only some pottery and stone engravings are left, are these the only materials they used?