Buried treasure BY Jan Zalasiewicz
Armageddon strikes. Perhaps it comes in the shape of nuclear war, or a new virus—deadlier than AIDS and more infectious than the common cold—or a collision with a huge meteorite. Whatever the cause, imagine that Homo sapiens suddenly passes into history. It’s a shocking scenario, but perfectly plausible—witness the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. What kind of legacy would we leave behind? Today, we are rulers of the planet. A hundred million years from now, will we just be history, or geology and paleontology, too? The dinosaurs, masters of the Earth in their day, certainly left impressive remains for paleontologists to pick over. But we are only one species, whereas they were many. Also, they were around for about a hundred million years, while we have managed less than half a million. And it is only in the past 250 years, since the Industrial Revolution, that we have had a truly global impact. What’s more, although dinosaur remains are impressive, they are strikingly rare: around the world only a few thousand skeletons have been found that are anywhere near complete, together with scattered footprints and occasional eggs. This is partly because dinosaurs were near the top “Buried Treaof the food chain and so there were relatively few of them, but also because they lived sure” was orig- mainly on land. When they died, their bodies were exposed to the elements, and scatinally pubtered and recycled by the myriad agents of scavenging and decay. Only those few that lished in New were rapidly buried by floods or sandstorms were destined to be preserved for posterity. Scientist, vol. How would our legacy compare? Fossil human skeletons might turn up here and 158, issue there. After all, we’re very numerous and, by burying our dead, we certainly give our 2140, 27 June remains a head start over those of the dinosaurs. There may even be a few examples 1998; reproof soft tissues being preserved. But it’s not just bodies that can survive the ravages duced here with of geological time. Trace fossils such as burrows, trails, and footprints leave their own permission of more oblique signature. Dinosaur footprints and even nests have been found. New Scientist. Our own trace fossil systems are a lot more robust than those of the dinosaurs. They include roads, houses, and foundations. On average, over a lifetime we each account for some 500 tons of sand, gravel, limestone, and clay, from which the hard-wearing artificial rocks known as concrete and brick are made. Then there’s iron, steel, copper, and plastic.
The eastern edge of the Astarte sanctuary, discovered during excavations at Tell-el-Nasbeh (Mizpah), 1932, from the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photographic Collection, U.S. Library of Congress.
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