MEMO

 

 

TO:                  Professor Raven Walkersmate, PhD, FRS, FSA

 

FROM:            Chancey Koala

 

RE:                   My Grade!

 

 

 

I am writing in response to the grade I received on my report "A Shrine to the Past at the Time of the Great Cataclysm."  I was very proud of the work I did on the expedition to Ann Arbor, and was shocked when I received a failing grade on my report.  When I saw that odd shaped building with the black animals poised in front of it, I just knew it was something important.  How could I ignore it?  And it was important!  A religious structure like none every before seen; a shrine to the ancient past.  How like us?  I felt pulled to the building.

 

In retrospect, though, I can understand why you didn't like my report. You were counting on me to date one of the residential structures and I let you down.  We were all there at great expense and hazard.  We each had our job to do, and I didn't do mine.  And now you must face the Regents and explain why, after all the money and effort, we still have no date.  It must be pretty embarrassing, and I am sorry for that.  I also know that my reaction in class when you handed back the reports was over the top, and I apologize for that as well.  I just didn't know what else to do.  I hope you weren't too embarrassed.

 

Once I cooled off though, it struck me that I might still have a way of saving the day on the dating.  While I was in the shrine, I did collect some information that might yet let us date the Great Cataclysm.  It was a small stratified deposit I found while looking through one of the small side rooms.  And unlike virtually everything in the shrine, it appeared to be more or less contemporary with the Great Cataclysm, rather than ancient life.  I have attached a short report to this memo that summarizes the dating evidence and my results.  I hope this helps.

 

I also hope that maybe, possibly, this will tempt you to reconsider my grade?  You know if I fail this class my chances of being selected for final training are zero.  You know I'm a good archaeologist.  I was good in the field and I was good in the lab, at least that's what you said.  I may go with my feelings a bit (well, ok, a lot in this case), but hopefully my analysis will convince you that I can do the hard stuff too.

 


Analysis of a Stratified Deposit in the Ruthven Shrine, Ann Arbor, Michigan

 

By

Chancey Koala

Student of Archaeology

New World University, Ross I.S.

 

 

            The investigation of the Ruthven Shrine in the pre-Cataclysm city of Ann Arbor, North America, presented many dating difficulties.  It did so because the entire building seems to have functioned as a repository for ancient things, be they animals, plants or items of human manufacture.  As such, the shrine sheds light not only on the ancient life of our plant long before the Great Cataclysm, but also offers unique insight into the beliefs and lifestyles of the people who lived in Ann Arbor at the time of the Cataclysm.  As important as these questions are (and I think they are very important), the dating of the Great Cataclysm itself remains obscure and problematic. 

 

            Many objects, throughout the building, had dates inscribed on them, but it was logically impossible to say that they were really associated with the final use of the building, rather than with the 'cult of collection' (see my earlier report) that was everywhere in the building.  A possible breakthrough in the dating came with my identification of a small, stratified deposit of food containers that was located inside one of the side rooms in the building.  There were all sorts of odd stuff in this side room, but nothing suggestive of an intentional display (unlike the larger rooms in the shrine).  As such, I believe this stratified deposit represents food remains that were either consumed or sacrificed in the period immediately prior to the Great Cataclysm.  These food remains are not only stratified within a small receptacle (which provides a relative ordering) but also have dates of various kinds written on them.  By combining the stratigraphic information and the inscribed dates, I believe I can very closely approximate the date of the Great Cataclysm (or at very least, the date on which the Shrine was abandoned or ceased to be used).

 

 

Data:

 

            Assuming that the small side room was not part of the public display of shrine materials, there are two sets of evidence that have a bearing on the date of the Great Cataclysm.  The first is coinage.  It appears that at the time of the Great Cataclysm, a single individual occupied the small side room.  This individual was an adult male, and from the position of his remains, he was standing, possibly looking out the window, at the time of the Cataclysm.  The bones were found in a heap near the room's single window, and the man's shoes, which were eerily preserved, suggest he was facing towards the window at the time of death.  Mixed with the bones was a small pile of six coins that I believe were on the person of the man at the time of death.  This is significant from a dating perspective, since it would mean that the coins were in use and active circulation at the time of the Cataclysm.  The specific coins and their dates are listed in Table 1.  The coins range in date from 1967 to 2002, with the greatest number being stamped 1998.  It is interesting to note that the dates do not really correspond with the supposed value of the coin (in lecture we were told that more valuable items should be kept around longer), although the odd quarter with two dates may change my opinion.  This quarter has both the oldest and the youngest date of any of the coins.  Now since I know that electricity was only in the initial stages of discovery in 1788, it seems impossible that the small room, with all its electronics gear could date to that age.  Therefore, it seems more likely that 1788 reflects some date of commemoration (which fits with the overall ideology of the 'Cult of the Past', as proposed in my original report) and that the current date is more likely 2000.  In any event, it seems that the Great Cataclysm had to have happened AFTER 1998, and probably in or after 2002 AD (as the old calendar worked).

 

 

Coins Recovered from the 'Missing Man' in the Ruthven Shrine.

 

Table 1

 

 

Coin Variety

 

Date

Quarter

1788-2000

Quarter

2002

Quarter

1998

Dime

1998

Dime

1967

Nickel

1995

 

 

 

            The second crucial line of evidence, and the one which allows us to come closer to the actual time of the Cataclysm, derives from the small, stratified feature I excavated in the side room.  The materials all appear to be food containers and represent a limited range of dates.  These finds are summarized in Table 2, and a photo of the deposit prior to excavation is presented in Figure 1.

 

 

Table 2

 

Finds from the "Student's Savior" deposit in stratigraphic order.

 

 

Sequence Number

Type

Date

Identification Number

 

1

Yogurt Container

Oct. 14

01:51 M

2

Pudding Container

Dec. 05

0236MC043302

3

Yogurt Container

Oct. 23

05:42 C

4

Clear Plastic Lid

Oct. 23

05:42 C

5

Clear Plastic Lid

Oct. 14

01:51 M

6

Rectangular Plastic Box

Sept. 27, 05***

 

7

Pudding Container

Dec. 05

0236MC043302

8

Yogurt Container

Oct. 03

01:59 M

9

Pudding Container

Nov. 24

0224MC135201

10

Clear Plastic Lid

Oct. 10

22:49 N

11

Yogurt Container

Oct. 10

22:49 N

12

Clear Plastic Lid

Oct. 03

01:59M

13

Pudding Container

Nov. 24

0224MC135201

***      "Sell by"

 

 

Figure 1

 

View of "Student's Savior" deposit Prior to Excavation

 

 

 

 

            The materials in the stratigraphic deposit include small white plastic containers that held yogurt(?), small clear plastic containers that held pudding(?), and a single larger clear plastic container of unknown contents.  Also within the deposit were a series of flat, clear plastic lids.  Based on their size and the Identification Numbers, these seem to have been associated with the yogurt containers, possibly lids? While I am not entirely sure what either 'yogurt' or 'pudding' are, it is clear that they represent foods and, based on the dietary information written on the yogurt containers, they represented individual servings of the food.  Therefore, I believe I can argue that this deposit represents a series of individual food consumption events, possible actually consumed by the 'Missing Man'. This inference is supported by the discovery of a single stainless steal spoon in the top drawer of the one desk in the room.

            The deposit also seems to be a trash container of some kind that was periodically emptied, so the food events related by the deposit must be closely associated in time with the final use of the room.  It is for this reason that the dates, and the stratigraphic order of items, are important.  There is, though, the issue of what the dates actually reference.  In one instance, the date is labeled "Sell by".  Being a foodstuff, this implies that the food must be consumed on, or prior to, the listed date.  Interestingly, this is the earliest date in terms of the listed months (Sept 27, which in the old calendar meant the seventh month) and it is the only date that also indicates a year (at least I assume that the 05 after the month is indicative of the year, since this is a common style of date referencing seen elsewhere in the old world).  No meaning is explicitly given for the dates on any of the other containers.  I believe they are also 'Sell by' or 'Consume by' dates on the grounds that they are all occurring together in the single deposit.  On the other hand, they could be manufacture dates, and the food items could have had a very short shelf life.  A 'sell by' date, though, makes much more sense given the early date on the one container that we know is a 'sell by' date.

            Looking at Table 2, several conclusions can be drawn.    Although I cannot precisely translate the Identification Number, they correlate with the 'sell by' date, which makes me believe they are manufacturing lots.  They maintain the same ordered sequence as do the 'sell by' dates.  It also seems clear that the Identification Number works the same way for the pudding containers, but is in some other kind of sequential code.  Assuming all the listed dates are 'sell by' dates, it would appear that the Great Cataclysm happened no LATER than Dec. 05 (the 10th month in the old calendar). Pudding was in season at the time, and it is possible that the Missing Man ate both in a single day, maybe the very day of the Great Cataclysm.  Was he eating because he was worried?

 

            It is interesting to note from a dating perspective that all the youngest dates occur on pudding containers, the intermediate dates on yogurt containers, and the oldest date is on the large plastic thing.  One might think that this represents the order that the foods were eaten.  For example, maybe yogurt comes into season before pudding.  But from my stratigraphic excavation (and careful notes) it is clear that the containers were all intermixed.  I think this means that the pudding could sit around longer than the yogurt.  If this is right, then the real date might be closer to Oct. 23 (the eighth month).  And if I extend this logic to whatever was in the large plastic container, the final date might be as early as Sept. 27, 05.

 

 

Discussion:

 

            From the evidence I collected, it appears that the Great Cataclysm occurred in the Autumn of the year 2005 AD (old calendar).  I base the year on the correspondence between the coinage and the food container, and I base the time of year on the multiple 'sell by' dates on the stratified food containers.  The link between the year on the in use coins and the discarded food contain is a strong basis for arguing not only that the event occurred no earlier than the year 2005 AD, but that it actually occurred in 2005 because of the danger of food spoilage.  While the autumn season seems certain based on all of the food remains, the precise month remains obscure because we don't know what was stored in the large plastic container.  We know that the dates on pudding and yogurt seem to reflect their respective 'shelf lives' but with only a single example of the other container, it is difficult to evaluate it.  Could it have been recycled and reused?  Maybe, but the stratigraphic position rather makes me think it was discarded in the normal progression of things, and that it possibly had a shorter shelf life than either the yogurt or pudding.

 

Conclusion:

 

            Based on all of the evidence, and my best logical inference:

                                 I believe the Great Cataclysm occurred near to, and possibly a few days before, Sept. 24, 05.