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Hello and welcome to the Leeds Pyramid website
The fact that you have found the site and are reading this means the project is starting to work. The aim of the project is to construct a giant time capsule with every country in the world contributing to it. By doing this we hope it will be a great way to get the world working together on a positive venture and give ordinary people around the world a chance to feel like their opinions matter and can be heard for generations to come. It will also get people thinking about what our world will be like in 1,000 years and what we can do to help protect it. With the threat of global warming our, planet will be a very different place in 1,000 years so to capture a moment in time of our unique world and its different cultures would be an amazing thing.
The project has been started with a small budget and as it has grown people have kindly contributed their time and expertise to get it to where it is today. The following pages will hopefully explain the project in greater detail and give you a sense of what we are trying to achieve. Our countries page on the website has a highlighted list of the various governments around the world who have kindly agreed to participate so far. As things evolve we are adding new ideas and trying to get the maximum benefit we can out of the project.
If you feel you would like to contribute in any way please feel free to contact us anytime.
Very little of this venture is going to be easy but with enough enthusiasm and effort anything is possible.
The Pyramid
Pyramids have been around for thousands of years and have proved they are an ideal structure to hold important artefacts. For this reason we decided that it would be an ideal structure to house the hopes and information of our world and its people as we are today. By making it out of stone from all over the world it would make it a truly global structure and as you can see by the illustration, that was kindly created for us, it would make for an impressive sight. All the time capsules will be enclosed within it and we hope it can be built with methods that will have a reduced impact on the environment. The construction process itself would be a great opportunity to learn and bring new ideas into the building world. Only the outer shell will be made of stone. The interior of the structure can be filled with an eco friendly material.
The Time Capsule Boxes
We hope that every country will fill 3 time capsule boxes for the project.1 from m the countries leadership,1 from a school in that country and 1 from a family in that country. This way we hope to capture a good cross section of the people that make up the countries of the world. They will be housed in the central shaft of the pyramid. During construction smaller boxes can be built into the main body of the pyramid for people to find as the pyramid decays. These smaller boxes will be given out to random families around the world to fill as they see fit. The chamber at the base of the structure will be filled with cards from the children of the world. More details about the chamber are covered on a separate page.
Box Contents
We contacted Wessex archaeology and asked them as archaeologists what they would like to see if they opened the time capsule boxes in 1,000 years. Below is a letter that they sent us with their ideas.
...There are two things to think about here - what sort of things are likely to survive in your time capsules, and what sort of things might archaeologists of the future like to see in order to understand our society today.
Looking at what survives on archaeological sites from 1000 years ago. it's things like ceramics, glass, bone and some metal, but all these do surfer to some degree, either through breakage or corrosion. Clearly your capsules are going to protect what's inside a lot better, and also our synthetic materials and metal alloys today have a far greater shelf life than anything in use 1000 years ago. Perishables (plants and fresh foodstuffs) are clearly out, but clothing and paper would probably survive if well sealed. You don't say, but I'm assuming your capsules will be airtight. Anything digital would be tricky - DVDs and CDs might survive, but the technology to play them probably won't!
Now, as to what future archaeologists would like to see - the questions we often ask when we dig up objects from the past are about the everyday lives of the people using them, for example, what did they eat, what did they wear, where did they get things from. But what we always find really difficult to answer is the question of what people in the past actually thought - what were their religious beliefs, how did they see themselves, and what did they think about the world around them? Try a small experiment -ask each of your family what three things they would have buried with them, if they had a choice, to sum up their lives. That should give you a small insight into how you all see yourselves, and your place in the world, and that's the sort of thing, I think, that would mean a lot to anyone looking at your time capsules in the future..
The above letter is only a guide as the kinds of things that could go into the time capsule boxes. We hope whoever gets the boxes will try to make them unique to their own lives and countries.
Funding
As a family we have funded the project so far with the only costs being stationery and postage. Once we can get the world involved we should hopefully be able to attract sponsorship from businesses and individuals from around the globe to help create the pyramid. The structure will be made up out of over 10,000 pieces of stone and every one of those can be purchased to help cover the costs of the project. The whole project is non profit making and all money generated will go either towards the pyramid or towards helping to save the planet for the next 1,000 years. The more people we can get involved who will donate their time and expertise for free, the more remaining money can go to worthy causes. It would be great to create something in the world out of a good idea and 100% enthusiasm.
Where to build it?
When we first started the project we thought that it would be great if it was built in Leeds, England because we live here and we thought it would make a great attraction for the city. But as countries started replying to our letters we decided to research each culture to find out a little more about the people involved in the project. During this process we started to realise that there are countries in the world where a structure like the pyramid could really make a difference. Not only as a tourist attraction but to bring attention to the environmental problems that country is facing. As an example when Madagascar contacted us we went onto the internet to try and learn more about the country. When we saw an satellite photgrapgh showing the deforestation and how much rain forest was actually left it made us realise that our project would be a great way for children to learn about all the countries in the world and the environmental difficulties each one is facing. We would like to get schools from all over the world involved in deciding where to build the pyramid and by getting 1 school from each country to vote on its placement it will have more meaning than it being used as just a tourist attraction.
Satellite View of Madagascar
