Pop archaeology
Nov. 1st, 2004 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
todayiamadaisyWe razed part of the garden and now the area outside the back door is nothing but an expanse of bare earth. It was pristine at first, but now, after two weeks of birds scratching at it, the ground is turning up its bounty: assorted detritus of twigs and pebbles, a broken plate and, this morning, a marble, clear shot through the centre with a twisted bright blue stripe.
When we first moved here eleven years ago, we found a small ceramic figurine, about four centimetres high, buried in the garden. Cast in a sitting position and obviously part of a larger, lost tableau, Miss Muffett, as we named her, has a yellow top, blue skirt and a fetching blue bonnet. She has been thoroughly cleaned and now sits on the window-sill above the kitchen sink. The marble will be washed and boiled and added to my mother's jam-making marbles, fine use for buried treasure.
I've been thinking of burying something while the earth is still bare. Something small - a toy, perhaps, like those out of Kinder Surprise or Yowie chocolates - so that some far distant renovator will uncover her own surprise and find a use for it.
When we first moved here eleven years ago, we found a small ceramic figurine, about four centimetres high, buried in the garden. Cast in a sitting position and obviously part of a larger, lost tableau, Miss Muffett, as we named her, has a yellow top, blue skirt and a fetching blue bonnet. She has been thoroughly cleaned and now sits on the window-sill above the kitchen sink. The marble will be washed and boiled and added to my mother's jam-making marbles, fine use for buried treasure.
I've been thinking of burying something while the earth is still bare. Something small - a toy, perhaps, like those out of Kinder Surprise or Yowie chocolates - so that some far distant renovator will uncover her own surprise and find a use for it.
