With a bachelor of science in archaeology and an honours diploma in photojournalism, I occupy a niche market as an archaeological photographer when a dig needs it. Every now and then, I find myself neck-deep in artifacts, melding my expertises together to create highly technical images that document every item pulled out of thousands of years of dust and soil. My training in archaeology informs me of what I’m looking at and my skill in photography lets me document it properly. It’s a privilege that gets me one-on-one time with ancient things, to turn them over in my hand and contemplate their individual histories.
Someone once asked me what my favourite thing about archaeology is and my response was:
“There’s a this feeling when you pull something out of the ground and you realize you’re the first person to see it and touch it in thousands of years. That now, you’re linked back to the ancient person who dropped it. It’s very surreal and humbling. We’re all here for such a short snippet of time.”
Death can be a sorrowful occasion, but as playwright Robert Bolt once wrote, “death comes for us all.” It is an inevitability. I will die. You will die. And as much as death itself is inevitable, so too will it be that we will all leave something behind.
An ancient person who lost their favourite bronze brooch while walking down a street couldn’t have known an archaeologist would find it centuries later. Cleaned, catalogued, and documented, the identity of that brooch’s owner has been lost to the literal sands of time. Though we might not know who they were, they nonetheless still existed and the brooch is now an artifact because it was something. But the implication is very clear: we would not have the brooch without the person.
Thinking about this makes me look around and wonder what of mine will be found by someone someday. I don’t have children, so nothing will be an heirloom unless my brother’s kids call dibs. My possessions will likely be sold off at an estate sale, donated to a thrift store, or hauled to the dump. It can be really depressing and morbid to think about, but instead it makes me wonder: what of mine will endure?
Like the ancient person who lost their brooch, my identity might be forgotten someday, but my existence will always be implied through the things I’ll leave behind. It comforts me to know those things we create in our lifetime – the stuff that’s unique or so well-made or so interesting that they become precious enough they last – will one day be artifacts, whether or not an archaeologist has to excavate them.
Thus, this project was born: an exploration of the material culture we all create every day in every lifetime. These objects will one day be Future Artifacts and now is our chance to tell their origin stories.
For the purposes of this project, the criteria of a Future Artifact includes:
- It is an item you own that was created or designed for you, or made by you.
- The “artifact” wouldn’t exist had it not been for you.
- It is unlikely to be thrown in the landfill upon your passing, regardless of if it ends up as an heirloom piece or someone’s special thrift store find.
Interested in participating? Fill out an application form! I’m working on creating a diverse cross-section of artifacts, so please feel free to submit multiple items for consideration.
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