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Loading... Motel of the mysteries (original 1979; edition 1979)by David Macaulay
Work InformationMotel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay (1979)
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It is the year 4022; all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of detritus from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. Imagine, then, the excitement that Howard Carson, an amateur archeologist at best, experienced when in crossing the perimeter of an abandoned excavation site he felt the ground give way beneath him and found himself at the bottom of a shaft, which, judging from the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from an archaic doorknob, was clearly the entrance to a still-sealed burial chamber. Carson's incredible discoveries, including the remains of two bodies, one of then on a ceremonial bed facing an altar that appeared to be a means of communicating with the Gods and the other lying in a porcelain sarcophagus in the Inner Chamber, permitted him to piece together the whole fabric of that extraordinary civilization. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresNo genres Melvil Decimal System (DDC)818.5407Literature English (North America) Authors, American and American miscellany 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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In this generously illustrated book that takes place in the future, North America is already destroyed, having been buried beneath junk mail over 2,000 years ago. Howard stumbles upon an old motel room with a couple of bodies in them, and he interprets everything through a very wrong lens. The most base, disgusting, or mundane items become ceremonial and sacred (the bathroom is the inner sanctum, for example). Yet the items Howard finds are not only there to criticize fast, lazy answers in archaeology--they sometimes reflect poorly on modern priorities. For example, the TV was an altar and the remote a way to stay spiritually connected to it. They shine a light in the room to see not glints of gold, but glints of plastic.
Written in 1979, Motel of the Mysteries is fast becoming a relic itself and interestingly will need more and more interpretation itself. While most items it mentions still exist, some are obsolete and references are made to items that are less and less familiar to us (such as corded phones, the concept of banging on the top and sides of a TV to get it to work, and a list of old cars with animal names that are no longer produced). Yet it makes a timeless point and is so short I would have to consider it an essential archaeology book. ( )