Just as another explanation, if materials can get out, it is also simple for materials to get in. In the case of flooding, it is not unlikely that water mixed with dirt getting in and drying. This isn't inconsistent with the material that they pulled out. It will likely be impossible to know which the real answer is, but I'm not holding my breath. The joke seems like the easier explanation. Let's make sure that what we want to believe doesn't prevent us from accepting reasonable alternatives (this applies to both of us).
> When Paul Hudson, the West Point archaeologist, reached his gloved hand into the unsealed lead box, he retrieved only dust and crumbling bits of dirt the color of pale ash.
There exist archeological finds of this kind and they do match material description.
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/21/753014767/time-capsule-in-der...
This one is more of a mystery though since it was clearly soldered shut. Maybe someone was going to do a time capsule and then decided against it? Or got drunk and forgot to put anything inside before sealing it up? We will probably never know.
Such an odd thing to call it "silt". Did they measure the grain size?
Anyhow, maybe whatever was in there had decomposed into a powder residue.
I mean, I doubt many people will appreciate or care whether it was actually sand or clay instead. The only reason I even know that you're talking about the soil texture triangle is because of Dwarf Fortress.
West Point discovers time capsule from 1828 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37289067 - Aug 2023 (152 comments)
But I liked the anticlimactic way the BBC article on the subject[1] ended:
"'I am sure some in our audience have questions for our various experts up on stage?' Ms Voigtschild said after the mud was found.
There were none."
My speculation: I'm no expert, but it looks like there are fragments of, at least, a bowl? Earlier in the feed they discuss damage to the capsule. I'd guess the capsule was not originally empty; the last 200 years just took its toll on the contents.
Mysterious Disease strikes West Point historians.
