Qualla: Crypt of Civilization https://qualla.com/crypt-of-civilization en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/h/0/crypt-of-civilization-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Crypt of Civilization https://qualla.com/crypt-of-civilization Crypt of Civilization: Introduction https://qualla.com/crypt-of-civilization/ Photo credit Distinguished Reflections, CC BY 2.0. Somewhere in the basement of Phoebe Hearst Hall at Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, Georgia, a bottle of Budweiser beer sits in a stainless steel container filled with inert gas, waiting to be opened in the year 8113. It shares the room with a plastic Donald Duck, a manual typewriter, Lincoln Logs, voice recordings of Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler, the sound of a professional pig caller, and a hand-cranked device designed to teach English to whoever finds the vault six thousand years from now. The Crypt of Civilization is the world's first genuine time capsule -- an airtight, room-sized chamber sealed on May 28, 1940, and meant to remain untouched for 6,177 years.

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Image: Distinguished Reflections | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/h/0/crypt-of-civilization-wp/dnh0-crypt-of-civilization-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Crypt of Civilization: The Man Who Counted Backward from Egypt https://qualla.com/crypt-of-civilization/ Photo credit Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 4.0. Thornwell Jacobs, president of Oglethorpe University from 1915 to 1944, came up with the idea in the 1920s while researching a book. He was struck by how little detailed information survived about everyday life in ancient Egypt -- practically everything scholars knew came from it...

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Image: Holger.Ellgaard | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/h/0/crypt-of-civilization-wp/dnh0-crypt-of-civilization-the-man-who-counted-backward-from-egypt.mp3 0:06 2 full Crypt of Civilization: A Swimming Pool Becomes a Tomb https://qualla.com/crypt-of-civilization/ Photo credit Not credited, Public domain. Jacobs and scientist Thomas K. Peters chose an unlikely vessel: the swimming pool in the basement of Phoebe Hearst Hall. Between 1937 and 1940, they converted it into an airtight chamber sitting on a bedrock floor with a stone roof several feet thick. The room resembles a chamber...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/h/0/crypt-of-civilization-wp/dnh0-crypt-of-civilization-a-swimming-pool-becomes-a-tomb.mp3 0:06 3 full Crypt of Civilization: A Cross Section of 1940 https://qualla.com/crypt-of-civilization/ Photo credit Not credited, Public domain. The contents are a wonderfully eclectic snapshot of interwar America. Contributions came from the King of Sweden, Gustav V, and from Eastman Kodak. Deposited alongside classic literature and religious texts were seed samples, dental floss, a woman's purse with typical contents, A...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/h/0/crypt-of-civilization-wp/dnh0-crypt-of-civilization-a-cross-section-of-1940.mp3 0:06 4 full Crypt of Civilization: Sealed with a Wink https://qualla.com/crypt-of-civilization/ Photo credit Not credited, Public domain. Jacobs promoted the project on NBC radio in 1937, and a dedication ceremony took place on campus in May 1938, led by David Sarnoff of the Radio Corporation of America. Paramount newsreels of the event were themselves placed inside the crypt. On May 25, 1940, Jacobs and Peters per...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/h/0/crypt-of-civilization-wp/dnh0-crypt-of-civilization-sealed-with-a-wink.mp3 0:06 5 full