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Can't help but wonder what else in human history has been lost to antiquity. And I wonder if in 4000 years much of this cultures written works would exist in a recoverable form to explain the artifacts left behind.

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I’m almost certain this culture would have been illiterate. Writing was only just being invented in mesopotamia in the 4th millennium bce, and I’m pretty sure it only took root in larger administrative units while the Burned House Horizon region seems to be a relative backwater at the time. Moreover, it tended to be used for administration—how much grain do we have stored, how much have we given away and to whom, etc.

Where do you put 4000 years of data? Imagine indexing / searching that. If all data can’t be kept, who will get to decide what is important? It’s a really interesting topic

This is what librarians (used to?) do. Decide what is important, and which works are the best ones to save. Then organize it all.

The current mode of "save everything forever" collapses unless you have tools to find the needles in the haystacks.

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