This Place is not a place of honour

tbh

Theres a really interesting article here: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=160
about a project to devise warning signs for a nuclear waste storage facility. They have to be understood for 10,000 years no matter what happens to all of us! I think the message they decided the monument to convey is chilling:

This place is a message… and part of a system of messages… pay attention to it!

Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.

This place is not a place of honor…no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here… nothing valued is here.

What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.

The danger is in a particular location… it increases toward a center… the center of danger is here… of a particular size and shape, and below us.

The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.

The danger is to the body, and it can kill.

The form of the danger is an emanation of energy.

The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.


Imagine you found something like that walking in the park? I'd be in like a shot!!

Rhyme

Slap on my coat, grab my canary and shovel and away i go... still, pretty odd message.

tbh

bit more:

Ultimately, the decision for the WIPP markers was motivated by cost-effectiveness. Current plans call for the area over the waste storage panels to be outlined by "earthen berms," which is another way of saying "large piles of dirt." These berms will be jagged in shape and will radiate out from a central, generally square area. The jagged nature of the berms is meant to convey a sense of foreboding, and the exact size, shape, and configuration of the berms will be such that they will not quickly be eroded or covered. The four corner berms will be higher than the others to provide vantage points to see the area as a whole. Inside the corner berms will also be buried concrete rooms containing highly detailed information, such as maps, the periodic table, and astronomical charts indicating the date that the facility was sealed. This data will be engraved upon stone slabs which are too large to be removed from the rooms' entrances.

Inside of the square arrangement of berms, multiple granite "message kiosks" will be engraved with more basic information describing the site's contents. This text will be provided in all of the official UN languages and Navajo (the local indigenous language). Additionally, space will be left on the kiosks for a future generation to inscribe the message in another language. The granite surfaces will be protected by a concrete "mother" wall, and the messages will be placed up high to prevent them from being defaced or buried by the desert sand.

Lastly, the berms and the area they surround will be peppered with underground "time capsules" at varying depths. These clay, ceramic, glass, and aluminum oxide disks will be inscribed with warning information, and may contain samples of wood to allow a future society to date the
markers using carbon-14 dating.

PonderStibbons

That was a great read, but I honestly can't think of any marking system that would be scary enough to without doubt satisfy future generation's curiosity. No matter what they do, if any kind of significant looking markings, whether they were warning of danger or not, would be looked at in wonder and eventually dug up, if the exact original meaning was lost (say for example whoever is around in 10,000 years have never heard of nuclear radiation). I think if we found that message out in the desert or something today we would be down with the JCB's within a matter of hours.

simu

I'd go with images instead. I mean, we can still dig the stuff at Lascaux. Although, I don't think it would be possible to create a 100% effective system. There's always one... or loads.

nesf

Easier method: Place signs saying the place is cursed and lay traps inside to discourage/kill the curious. Then build large imposing stone structures where each side is a triangle to indicate danger. Finally place dead bodies inside there to further reinforce that the place is dangerous.

Simple really.

impr0v

that article wrote:

Another suggested leaving significant human remains above-ground at the site, to frighten off any who might stumble across it

This also occurred to me. Surely if it works for crows when their buddys are shot by farmers...

Victor

And will the bodies last 10,000+ years?

Also, realise radiation doesn't magicly disappear after 10,000 years, just that it is at a lower level.

Oriel

Pfft, sure God's halflife is a lower rate - so who cares?

The Gnome

Ahh Fallout, brilliant game...

Kiith

she opened pandora's box, so why wouldn't we?