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Motel of the mysteries by David Macaulay
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Motel of the mysteries (original 1979; edition 1979)

by David Macaulay

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1,1292717,587 (4.12)1 / 50
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.… (more)
Member:buckee
Title:Motel of the mysteries
Authors:David Macaulay
Info:Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1979.
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

Work Information

Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay (1979)

  1. 00
    The Weans by Robert Nathan (PuddinTame)
    PuddinTame: Similarly funny looks at "archeology" in North America
  2. 00
    Glacial Period by Nicolas de Crécy (bluepiano)
    bluepiano: In a future ice age an expedition comes upon a queer building buried in the snow, explore it, and make the sort of deductions that people who've never heard of the Louvre or indeed of art museums might make. Artwork in this book is gorgeous.
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English (26)  French (1)  All languages (27)
Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)
This is a clever little book that pokes fun at archaeological interpretations, particularly how quick they are to attribute items they aren't sure of to some sort of religious purpose. There are a lot of parallels to Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt, and the "archaeologist" of this book is in fact named Howard Carson.

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. ( )
  bannedforaday | Oct 22, 2023 |
children's, picture book, archaeologists, archaeology, parody, satire, humor, future, 4000s, New York, United States, artifacts, mistakes, assumptions, pollution, ruins, skeletons, toilets, televisions, 1980s, King Tutankamun
  mcghol | Oct 9, 2021 |
Humorous account of a 4020 excavation of a 20th century motel.

More of a smile than a lol but enjoyable. ( )
  Robertgreaves | May 31, 2020 |
Read prior to 2004. ( )
  librisissimo | Jan 7, 2020 |
Treating an old motel like the tomb of King Tut. ( )
  Huaquera | Jun 26, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)
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For Ruth, with love
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In 1985 a cataclysmic coincidence of previously unknown proportion extinguished virtually all forms of life on the North American continent.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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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.

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