Restoration workers at the Washington Monument in Baltimore have unearthed a 100-year-old time capsule.
A time capsule is supposed to be a historic collection of information and goods normally intended as a mode of communication with future people. Time capsules are sometimes buried in anticipation that future historians and archaeologists will open them and be assessed at a future date.
It seems that people in the past might have done something similar to the Washington Monument in Baltimore since restoration workers recovered a number of items, including a copper time capsule, during the renovation work.
"We found a lot of signatures and dates; there are signatures that we found in the basement from between 1819 and 1829. In a lot of the stones outside, we found craftsmen's names and dates, and just about three weeks ago, we found a commemorative date stone right from about 1820," says Dr. Lance Humphries, a member of the restoration committee.
Construction for the Washington Monument in Baltimore started in 1815 and was completed in 1829. The monument is the first one to honor America's first President George Washington. However, the time capsule is believed to have been placed behind a plaque in the monument, which represents the centennial celebration in 1915.
Humphries, chair of the conservancy's restoration committee, revealed that they were hoping to understand the appearance of the original plaster in the room where the time capsule was unearthed. They did not hope to find a time capsule hidden behind the plaque.
Members of the restoration team believe that whoever put the time capsule behind the plaque had the idea to protect the copper box. It is soldered on the top and was carefully placed on top of two wooden pieces.
The person who had put the time capsule there was also aware that there would be possible dampness to the walls of the building, which could damage the copper box. The time capsule was placed in the small chamber behind the plaque in a way that it did not touch the walls at all.
The insides of the time capsule still remain unknown. The Walters Art Museum has taken the capsule to find the best way to open it without causing any damage. Once opened, the contents of the time capsule will be kept at the museum and put on display in 2015 during the bicentennial celebration of the monument.
Until then, people are left guessing about the contents of the time capsule.
