
Archaeologist discovers rare items under the floor of Oxburgh Hall - pepys
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/oxburgh-hall/news/archaeologist-discovers-rare-items-under-the-floor-of-oxburgh-hall
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WalterGR
“Anna Forest the National Trust curator who is overseeing the work, said it
was the first time anybody had searched under the floorboard in centuries.”

Having lived my whole life in the US, that’s an incredible sentence to read.

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jfengel
There's an old joke that in the US they think 100 years is a long time, and in
Europe they think 100 years is a long way.

It's not at all uncommon to find people living in 300+ year old buildings --
buildings that are older than the country I live in. They're not historic
monuments, but just structures built to last. (A combination of survivorship
bias and a lack of engineering knowledge: if you don't have the expertise to
optimize your structure, you have to over-build it or it will fall down.)

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082349872349872
See also
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_hole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_hole)

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gota
Interesting that the conditions under the floorboards were ideal for keeping
the materials well conserved. I wonder whether we (I mean, our archaelogists)
can estimate how many of our current objects disposed as "hidden remains" will
be in good condition in 500 years.

Are people in 500 years going to find a 2000's flip-phone in good condition in
a basement?

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dhosek
There are likely empty cigarette packages and beer cans inside the walls of
many contemporary buildings. Gut rehabs of older homes often turn up
interesting artifacts behind the plaster walls and in older buildings it
wasn't uncommon to use newspapers and old clothing for insulation material.
Our landfills will likely be the primary archaeological sites though. My dad
often complains when my mom throws things out claiming that the archaeologists
of the future will lose access which I often rebut by pointing out that she's
merely sending it to the central archaeological repository.

~~~
Ichthypresbyter
Not to mention the various American houses with walls full of used razor
blades: [https://isarchitecture.com/seen-around-town-mid-century-
blad...](https://isarchitecture.com/seen-around-town-mid-century-blade-bank-
slot/)

~~~
dhosek
We had a medicine cabinet with slots for dropping in razor blades in our house
growing up. I don't think my dad disposed of used razor blades in it though.

