Leave a Legacy

[sevenperforce]

Here's a thought experiment.

Imagine you suddenly found yourself transported back in time thousands of years, to an arbitrary stone age or early bronze age civilization (dynastic Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, druidic Britain, etc.). Fortunately, you quickly learn the language and culture, and in true Connecticut Yankee style you make your ascent to a position of power within the society. You cannot, of course, manage to effect full industrialization since that infrastructure would take a few hundred years to get up and running, but you make enough contributions to agriculture and astrology and military tech that you're sure to be remembered as a great leader.

It's at this point that a thought occurs to you...what if you could be remembered as more than a great leader? By now, you've already reached the conclusion that the future you remember is gone forever. You've already changed history enough to ensure that. But you can guess that thousands of years in the future, archaeologists will dig up your civilization, and you want to give them something to really blow their minds.

What do you do?

You can write down your story -- "I'm a time traveler who came back from the year 2018 and used my knowledge to become powerful" -- but that's hit or miss. For one thing, you can't write in English, because English probably won't evolve in the same way, and if you write in the language of your civilization then you're more likely to create a new religion than anything else. Plus, written texts don't really survive very long, and in any case you can't make predictions about the future, because you don't know the future any more.

You do, however, know that certain things don't change. Like the value of pi or the mass of an electron or the speed of light.

How would you encode advanced scientific knowledge in monuments or other relics to give future archaeologists the shock of their lives?

_{My own idea, spoiler'd:}

Spoiler

The ideal relic, in my opinion, would encode information that the ancients absolutely would not be able to determine on their own, but which would be easy to correlate to reality without needing to speak the language or translate equations. Bonus if the information could potentially be explained to the ancients.

What could the ancients have guessed at, but never accurately known? How about the relative distances, radii, and masses of the major planets and their largest moons? The ancients could not have observed Neptune or Uranus with the naked eye and certainly would not have known detailed information about the moons of Saturn, Jupiter, or Mars. And they definitely would not have been able to guess the semimajor axes of all the orbits.

I'd have them build a sprawling citadel with eight monoliths surrounding a central tomb. The relative distances between the monoliths and the tomb would correlate to the semimajor axes of the planetary orbits. Each monolith would rest on a cylindrical base such that the masses of the bases form ratios matching the ratios of the masses of the planets. The height of each monolith would be in ratio of the radii of the actual planets. Obviously, heights of the monoliths would not be to scale with the distances between the monoliths, but it could use a ratio like the fine structure constant. The monoliths representing Mars, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune would all have satellite monoliths (or at least pillars) representing the arrangement of moons around that planet.

The specific locations of the monoliths would match the conjunction and alignment of the planets as of the date I woke up in the ancient world.

Inside my tomb, I'd also have 14 spheres in mass-ratio to the masses of the non-massless elementary particles (excepting the electron neutrino because it's just too small).

Spoiler

Radii ratios:

• electron: 1
• up quark: 1.6
• down quark: 2.1
• tau neutrino: 3.1
• strange quark: 5.7
• muon: 5.9
• charm quark: 13.6
• tau: 15.1
• bottom quark: 20.1
• W boson: 53.9
• Z boson: 56.3
• Higgs boson: 62.5
• top quark: 69.7

This of course assumes radii is taken to represent volume, and volume correlates to mass. Volume does not actually correlate to mass in dealing with elementary particles, but it's the easiest way to represent it.

If there was space for inscriptions in my crypt, I could use engraved circles with relative radii of 1, 1.6, and 2.1 to show the interactions of quarks and how protons and neutrons are formed, building up to the point of being able to show the structure of water.

 

 

Edited June 1, 2018 by sevenperforce

[KSK]

Minor nitpick - I'd prefer to be remembered as a leader who contributed to astronomy rather than astrology.

I think I'd choose either a derivation of E=MC² or a derivation of whatever theory underpinned my ability to time-travel, as the advanced knowledge to encode. The first is so iconic and the second - well we may as well go full-on time loop paradox here!

How to encode the information? Good question, and to my mind the real trick would be encoding it in a way that it really couldn't be called out as a fake. Sure, I could (and probably would) leave the derivation on a papyrus in a sealed jar in my tomb, but I think it would be too easy to disregard that as a hoax. We need something more obvious and much harder to fake, that ties in with the detailed derivation in my tomb

I guess the obvious answer is to spell out E=MC² in buildings (pyramids, temples or whatever) so that the equation is only apparent from the air. Buildings have a tendency to fall down, wear away or be vandalised / dismantled to build other buildings though, so we need redundancy. I think I'd write my E=MC² into the shape of the building foundations  too. Then, I would build a highlighter structure beneath and around the foundations (think a moat around a castle). Ideally the highlighter would have the following properties:

1. Be made out of an economically valueless material to discourage looters.
2. Be made out of a material that stands out well on a multispectral image.

So, even if my enormous ego-boosting tomb complex doesn't stand the test of time (or at least not enough of it to be readable), then hopefully the foundations will be. And if they're not, then hopefully the highlighter will be - and will only be visible by satellite to boot.

Oh - as a final touch, I would leave multiple copies of a Rosetta Stone in, under and around my tomb. The Stone would be a personal letter from me to the future written in at least two contemporary languages and also in English. The letter would further include the digits 0-9 expressed as a simple tally. It would include a guide to arithmetic symbols

I  =  I
2=  II
3 = III

3x2 = III x II = IIIIII

that sort of thing. It would also include the equation weight/9.81 = mass and the note that mass = M.  My reasoning here is that weight is a fairly general concept that may appear in other archaeological texts but mass is quite a specific concept that probably wouldn't be. I would need to think of some other way of describing what the E in E=MC² signifies

That way, even if the shape of my ego tomb complex means absolutely nothing to the future archaeologists, they at least have the means to decode it. Or, if they're excavating my tomb before relativity has been discovered, it's clearly an important equation given the amount of effort I've put into making sure it's understandable.

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2018 by KSK

[sevenperforce]

1 hour ago, KSK said:

Minor nitpick - I'd prefer to be remembered as a leader who contributed to astronomy rather than astrology.

As would I, but you're much more likely to gain critical acclaim in a stone age society through the avenue of astrology (simply because you'll be able to accurately predict star alignments, planetary conjunctions, etc.) than through astronomy, which wouldn't yet exist.

Quote

How to encode the information? Good question, and to my mind the real trick would be encoding it in a way that it really couldn't be called out as a fake. Sure, I could (and probably would) leave the derivation on a papyrus in a sealed jar in my tomb, but I think it would be too easy to disregard that as a hoax.

Yeah, this is a big element. Which is why I think that what you encode has to be BIG. If it's big and everyone knows it's been there for thousands of years, it's obviously not fake.

Quote

I guess the obvious answer is to spell out E=MC² in buildings (pyramids, temples or whatever) so that the equation is only apparent from the air.

It would also include the equation weight/9.81 = mass and the note that mass = M.  My reasoning here is that weight is a fairly general concept that may appear in other archaeological texts but mass is quite a specific concept that probably wouldn't be. I would need to think of some other way of describing what the E in E=MC² signifies

How would you signify E = energy, M = mass, C = the speed of light, and n² means exponentiation? For that matter, how do you signify that "=" means "equals" or that mushing two things together means multiplication?

Also, "9.81" is not meaningful unless you can also define meters and seconds.

(not to nitpick; this is just a question I've thought about for a while so I'm curious to see what people come up with)

Edited June 1, 2018 by sevenperforce

[KSK]

Yeah that last part is the flaw. The Rosetta Stone idea works (I think) but depends on the Stone surviving and being found.

I’m trying to think of a shape that is simultaneously indicative of advanced knowledge, unlikely to be dismissed as a coincidence and simple enough to withstand the elements for a couple of thousand years.

So far I’m drawing a blank.

[sevenperforce]

14 minutes ago, KSK said:

The Rosetta Stone idea works (I think) but depends on the Stone surviving and being found.

The Rosetta Stone idea also runs into the question of legitimacy. Even if the stone survives, is found, and is decoded, how do future archaeologists know that it is truly the writing of a time traveler and not just a proto-science-fiction novel written by a particularly inventive pharaoh?

16 minutes ago, KSK said:

I’m trying to think of a shape that is simultaneously indicative of advanced knowledge, unlikely to be dismissed as a coincidence and simple enough to withstand the elements for a couple of thousand years.

This question was inspired by all the "ancient aliens" and "Golden ratio" nonsense out there...I started wondering what actually WOULD be considered valid evidence of advanced scientific knowledge in the ancient world.

[Wjolcz]

So I see I'm not the only one thinking about this kind of stuff.

I wouldn't experiment with some new language, that's for sure. Just a key for encoding the rest of the message: 1=I, 2=II, ... ,10=IIIIIIIIII, 11=IIIIIIIIIII, 21=IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII and so on. Then speed (with m/s because the lenght of the day wouldn't change) by writing some sort of equation involving speed and distance. Then from distance I could show them how much is 1 kg (1 litre of water is 1 kilogram) and that would give them the symbol of mass (m). Then eventually I would go for the E=mc^2 or some other recent discovery.

Either that or memorize the whole content of the Voyager plate and leave that instead.

Edit: Also, I would try to tell as many stories of my timeline as possible, like WW2, nuclear bomb, Moon landing and other important stuff. So yeah, pretty much a Rosetta stone +pictures.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Wjolcz

[kerbiloid]

45 minutes ago, KSK said:

So far I’m drawing a blank.

Spoiler

+1!
Imagine, you don't know this language.
But don't you see that this is an artifact of a civilization at least of your XX/XXI century level?

Pay special attention on barcodes.
Of course, unlikely EAN13 could be the same, but the idea of bar-code just can't change.
QR and 2d barcodes would anyway appear after plain 1d barcode.

Edited June 1, 2018 by kerbiloid

[Wjolcz]

1 hour ago, sevenperforce said:

How would you signify E = energy, M = mass, C = the speed of light, and n² means exponentiation? For that matter, how do you signify that "=" means "equals" or that mushing two things together means multiplication?

Use things that don't change. Density and mass of water/air, day length, atomic decay, etc. to point out which symbol signifies what.

Maybe spell out with buildings/monoliths something that happened even before the time you got transported to but was discovered only recently. Like zircon crystals with biogenic carbon or the number and distances to the nearest confirmed exoplanets. The last one would almost definitely point out to aliens and you would ensure the creation of History Channel's 'Ancient Aliens' series. You could probably encode that too. I probably would put some funny message in that just to screw with the researchers, like "No, it's not Aliens. It's never Aliens. Even around that odd star over 1000 light years away."

Edit: Anyway, I agree it's a good idea for the message to be big and easy to discover as soon as possible.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Wjolcz

[kerbiloid]

Lifehack: arrive there just before the Santorini eruption.
Explain them that they are sinners, and unless they follow you, the sea will explode to punish them.

Better say this from a ship, to escape fast before they catch you.

Don't forget to make a selfie with exploding Santorini on your palm (as usual, you know).

Return and ask them again: do they want sinking mountains.

[razark]

3 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

For one thing, you can't write in English, because English probably won't evolve in the same way...

An interesting thought.

[Fraston]

Ugggghh this is making my head explode, haha!

[wumpus]

Terry Pratchett had an interesting take on this type of thing.  He had a group of teens (maybe slightly younger) travel back and forth in time (to WWII).  During one of the stops, one is left behind.

Back in their own time, the much older boy meets up with them.  They assume he built computers or such, but he asks them to describe (using only 1940s tech) how to build a computer.  Or even how to make a plastic spoon.  None have any idea.  What thy boy did was come up with something he *did* understand (and could work out his misconceptions): a hamburger stand.  Of course once he had a nest egg, he had a huge advantage in investing.

I'd be curious how many of us have skills that could be used in the bronze age (or before) to rise to power?  Presumably you have to first prove yourself as an individual, and be able to build your technology base as your followers increased.  I think you'd be surprised how adapted each time period's technology would be to its infrastructure.  Building a superior infrastructure for you barely more advanced technology will be a Herculean task.  I'm guessing a blacksmith would go a long way.

I've studied history and technology (as an enthusiast, not at all an academic aside from an undergraduate class long ago) for a long time and as far as I can tell: technology *is* infrastructure.  You aren't going anywhere until you build that infrastructure.

Some "inventions"

- the horse collar is the biggest "why didn't they think of that".  Requires a lot more leather than an ox collar, but allows you to get a full horsepower out of each horse (without this you basically strangle the horse.  Yes, chariot races were a lot slower than you'd think, largely because they were strangling the horses.

- mouldboard plough would be the next: you need iron and probably the horse collar (you could do it with oxen, but get the horse collar first).

- building hotter and hotter forges would be an amazing trick.  Start with producing iron, and work your way up to steel, pig iron, and hopefully even crucible steel.  Hope you know where historical iron and coal deposits are!

- remember that while the katana was an amazing performer made out of questionable ore (lots of swords were far better, but almost certainly used better ore), samurai were far more likely to fight with spears on the battlefield.  Forging something like a katana might get the attention of kings (for good or ill), but don't expect to change the course of a battle with them.

- could you make a compound bow?  Sounds hard, and I'd hate to imagine all the technology needed for it (maybe you could lathe hard wood/iron roller bearings instead of ball bearings), but it would probably become the "super weapon" of anything before gunpowder (you need hardened steel plates to even think of stopping it).  And even if you can make gunpowder, can you make the steel barrel needed to contain the explosive (sure, you could probably use it to sack walled cities, but that doesn't sound like a long-term thinking that goes into leaving a legacy).  Again, infrastructure is key.

- there is likely a huge difference between a horse riding nomadic band and the same band with stirrups as cavalry.  Expect amazing pushback from the tribe who learned to stay on a horse the hard way and insist that anyone who can't isn't part of their tribe.  Don't be too surprised if the local cavalry have weird systems that work almost as well (the Romans had some weird circular stablizer).

Finally: on writing systems:

We all know that finding the Rosetta Stone meant that someone merely looked at the Greek text and was able to transcribe the Egyptian pictograms into Greek.  Except it didn't happen that way at all.  Certainly papers were written at the time that said as much, but it took another 20 years before Champollion finally got around to doing the hard work of matching up the text.  Champollion was one of the few westerners (and probably few people altogether) who was fluent in Coptic.  He was able to show that hieroglyphics were essentially Coptic, typically with stylized pictures to replace Coptic sounds (note that classical hieroglypics were often meant to be visually impressive to illiterates on temples and tombs and even if you could read them were often propaganda, so accuracy wasn't a big thing.  Scribes had a separate simplified writing system for keeping records).  A similar method was used with Linear B, and that had to be done without the aid of a Rosetta Stone: Alice Kober was able to show that it was an archaic form of Greek, using an ancient syllabary (each symbol meant an entire syllable, not just a sound).

You'll need a lot of copies of a complete explanation of your language and writing system, and even then they don't have a great chance of being decoded.  So far, unknown writing systems have relied on knowing the underlying language, but there is always hope.  Recently, there may have been advances in decoding the Incan knot system, but the actual advances are far less than the clickbait  titles may indicate.

[Wjolcz]

@wumpus the problem with Rosetta Stone and Incan knots is that each document (I guess you could call it that) doesn't contain the key left there for someone to decipher it. If you include a simple and logical key the job becomes much easier. Leave the key and people will be able to read it. Just like the dotted equations in 'Contact'. Rosetta Stone was built to tell a story, not as a time capsule.

About infrastructure: I thought about it too. The "easiest" way of doing this is going to someone influencial and asking them to finance your steam engine based on your plans. And you would most likely have to hinge it on a good military-based argument. Building an empire from scratch would be pretty much impossible.

Build a twentieth century invention on your own and you will most likely either run out of resources fast or get stabbed for either heresy or profit.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Wjolcz

[sevenperforce]

"Technology is infrastructure" is the truest thing on this thread so far. That's why the actual Connecticut Yankee is so preposterous.

There are a lot of advances to be had in the realm of agriculture. Irrigation (e.g. water screws) and planting cycles and crop density. You can't manage industrialized farming, of course, but you can move in that general direction.

On the military side of things, you can readily build seige engines with exploding projectiles. A wagon-mounted trebuchet that can accurately lob grapeshot into tight enemy formations well behind the front line would turn the tide of literally any pitched battle before the 1500s.

The biggest challenge, of course, is to not die before you learn the language.

And on the subject of actually leaving something for the future.....

2 hours ago, Wjolcz said:

I wouldn't experiment with some new language, that's for sure. Just a key for encoding the rest of the message: 1=I, 2=II, ... ,10=IIIIIIIIII, 11=IIIIIIIIIII, 21=IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII and so on. Then speed (with m/s because the lenght of the day wouldn't change) by writing some sort of equation involving speed and distance. Then from distance I could show them how much is 1 kg (1 litre of water is 1 kilogram) and that would give them the symbol of mass (m). Then eventually I would go for the E=mc^2 or some other recent discovery.

All this depends on your inscriptions lasting, and not being looted/sacked/destroyed.

What is the most advanced (and obviously non-coincidental) idea that could be expressed with something as simple as the stonehenge?

Spoiler

We know the Stonehenge was built to align with the rising and setting of the sun, and probably had some function as an astronomical or astrological observatory. But what if we discovered tomorrow that the stones in the Stonehenge are placed in such a way that they exactly match the arrangement and surface area of the world's continents?

2 hours ago, Wjolcz said:

Either that or memorize the whole content of the Voyager plate and leave that instead.

Edit: Also, I would try to tell as many stories of my timeline as possible, like WW2, nuclear bomb, Moon landing and other important stuff. So yeah, pretty much a Rosetta stone +pictures.

Well, WW2 would never happen. Nuclear weapons and moon landings might, but the details would be different.

2 hours ago, Wjolcz said:

Use things that don't change. Density and mass of water/air, day length, atomic decay, etc. to point out which symbol signifies what.

Trying to think how I'd engrave that on a blank sheet without using an established language.

2 hours ago, Wjolcz said:

Maybe spell out with buildings/monoliths something that happened even before the time you got transported to but was discovered only recently. Like zircon crystals with biogenic carbon or the number and distances to the nearest confirmed exoplanets.

Even a list of planets and moons within our solar system points beyond ancient tech.

[Shpaget]

Actually I'm well ahead of you. I already have the time machine set up and I'm ready to jump. I have the project in mind. It will be an orrery as well as a device to calculate long term solar and lunar eclipses as well as moon phases. The deployment is rather tricky, though. I need to fetch a specific ship that will sink on a specific day and its wreck found thousands of years later.

So, I'm basically ready to go, I'm just waiting for that Chris guy to show me how to build the darned thing.

[kerbiloid]

5 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

Radii ratios:

• electron: 1
• up quark: 1.6
• down quark: 2.1
• tau neutrino: 3.1
• strange quark: 5.7
• muon: 5.9
• charm quark: 13.6
• tau: 15.1
• bottom quark: 20.1
• W boson: 53.9
• Z boson: 56.3
• Higgs boson: 62.5
• top quark: 69.7

You should translate these magic terms to the archaeologists.
Otherwise they, as usually, will explain to everybody that this is a magic inscription, and your lab is obviously a temple (because what else it could be?).

18 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

On the military side of things, you can readily build seige engines with exploding projectiles.

After you have learned how to brew saltpeter out of straw and manure.

18 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

A wagon-mounted trebuchet that can accurately lob grapeshot into tight enemy formations well behind the front line would turn the tide of literally any pitched battle before the 1500s.

Sea robbery, that's the key. Or thalassocracy, if you prefer.
Needs less people, allows to choose weak enemies instead of big armies and run away after robbing.
Break the sea routes between Crete and the continents, raise your price and sell your cannon.

Edited June 1, 2018 by kerbiloid

[Wjolcz]

35 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

Trying to think how I'd engrave that on a blank sheet without using an established language.

The simplest way I can imagine is a combo of language (edit: all they need is a couple of letters), math and pictures. If you are not sure if someone will understand something just draw it.

Let's assume the key to arabic digits is the first thing you leave there and the researchers already know it. What I would do is probably this:

Start with the length of the day in seconds (so they know how many seconds are in one day) +a simple drawing of day and night cycle -> equation for an object going 1m/s (now they know how much 1 meter is) -> using meters I can now write down how much 1 kg of water is +a drawing of a wave to indicate it's water/drawing of a molecule of water (I actually know this one) -> Now they would be able to figure out what mass is since kilograms and speed are there (edit: from the mass formula).

This alone gives them symbols for mass and speed and since they know how much 1 meter is and how long is one second you just write down the speed of light with arabic digits and mark it as 'c'.

I'm not sure about how to introduce energy (E) tho. I'm really bad at physics.

Edit: BTW I don't know if you can already tell but I really rushed this post and it's a complete mess. If I sat down and researched a couple of things I definitely could write down a key to encode E=mc^2.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Wjolcz

[wumpus]

20 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

On the military side of things, you can readily build seige engines with exploding projectiles. A wagon-mounted trebuchet that can accurately lob grapeshot into tight enemy formations well behind the front line would turn the tide of literally any pitched battle before the 1500s.

As far as I know, trebuchets were never used in pitched battles (although grapeshot might have changed things).  Grenadiers were a thing (throwing them by hand), and I imagine grenadiers could achieve archery range (which is close enough to destroy a formation).  I still think compound bows would be easier to teach people to make, and cheaper than handing grapeshot to your enemy (how many man-hours does it take to make shot in a medieval economy?  Then again, arrow manufacture was a real pain).

If you really want to defeat an enemy on the battlefield, maps and a compass will probably help more than any other tech.  Part of the reason Hannibal was so effective was he did a lot of his own scouting.  This allowed him to pick ideal battlefields.  Prior to the telegraph, wars often involved armies groping around for each other until they finally collided.  Get the maps first, then go to war.  And yes, map generation will be hugely expensive.  Might be justified if you have a merchant operation (you know double-entry accounting? that's a huge step up against anyone before 1000CE or so.  Pen, paper [or clay and stylus], and money are the only infrastructure you need).

I'm also drawing a blank on the means to a rise to power.  Most of these skills are pretty obscure, requiring fairly old kerbanauts to have picked up enough.  But your ideal time traveler is pre-teen, in order to learn the language.  However you learn the language, I'd recommend trying to become a brewer if you can find the means to build a still (also knowing about yeast and sanitation should give you a huge leg up, but your competition has done it all their lives, and learned from guys who did it all their lives...).  Becoming a drug lord has always been a great means to power, and if you're the only one who can distill alcohol [and again, infrastructure is everything: distilled alcohol is only great if you have the means to grow more food than you can easily transport as food/beer].  Maybe living just outside a big city (modern people can't expect to get used to the smell of a large ancient city).

[Wjolcz]

15 minutes ago, wumpus said:

[snip]

Isn't this thread about how and what to do in order to give people of the future a hint that you had that kind of knowledge? I thought the assumed rise to power is already done and we are focusing on building that one ultimate time traveler's relic?

Edited June 1, 2018 by Wjolcz

[kerbiloid]

Be sure, whatever you suggest, archaeologists will explain this as an occasion or a ritual thing/temple/magic.

[Scotius]

Then map of the Solar system is a good start. Also making clay orbs and engraving them with silhouettes of all continents and biggest islands(more or less acurately LOL). Make sure your orbs are properly fired before burying them everywhere around.

[Wjolcz]

36 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Be sure, whatever you suggest, archaeologists will explain this as an occasion or a ritual thing/temple/magic.

Assuming they are the only ones looking at the evidence. If there's some alien theorist that thinks it's aliens he or she will do everything to prove it. By doing so he/she will confirm that in fact it's knowledge ancients couldn't obtain and still call it aliens and then everyone would freak out because going back in time is impossible.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Wjolcz

[kerbiloid]

Jonathan Swift left description of both Mars moons. But nobody takes it serious.

Better use John Dee as a beacon.

Btw about writing systems. Tolkien's main ones are phonetically logical, compact and more or less easy to use. At least not worse than other ones.
(I mean both cirth and tengwar. Probably, you would mostly use tengwar, as it's hard to write something on bones/stones/wood.)

Edited June 1, 2018 by kerbiloid

[sevenperforce]

13 minutes ago, Wjolcz said:

Isn't this thread about how and what to do in order to give people of the future a hint that you had that kind of knowledge? I thought the assumed rise to power is already done and you are focusing on building that one ultimate time traveler's relic?

Yes, the point of the thread is to figure out how to pass a message on to the future. But apparently some people also thought the "how would one rise to power?" question was equally interesting, and the rest was history.

25 minutes ago, wumpus said:

I still think compound bows would be easier to teach people to make, and cheaper than handing grapeshot to your enemy (how many man-hours does it take to make shot in a medieval economy?  Then again, arrow manufacture was a real pain).

More canister than grapeshot. You can pack it with stones, nails, whatever. Compound bows are challenging because they require carefully machined cams that must withstand tremendous forces. Machined pig iron might be good enough to build compound bow cams but I'm not sure. Anything weaker than pig iron is a complete non-starter.

25 minutes ago, wumpus said:

If you really want to defeat an enemy on the battlefield, maps and a compass will probably help more than any other tech.  Part of the reason Hannibal was so effective was he did a lot of his own scouting.  This allowed him to pick ideal battlefields. 

If you have sufficient historical knowledge, you don't even have to do the scouting.

48 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

6 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

If there was space for inscriptions in my crypt, I could use engraved circles with relative radii of 1, 1.6, and 2.1 to show the interactions of quarks and how protons and neutrons are formed, building up to the point of being able to show the structure of water.

You should translate these magic terms to the archaeologists.
Otherwise they, as usually, will explain to everybody that this is a magic inscription, and your lab is obviously a temple (because what else it could be?).

If you do a big complex with the inscriptions in the center of the temple, then they will be studied and published and someone will realize it's unique. Especially if the rest of the monolith complex has obvious advanced knowledge encoded in it.

25 minutes ago, Scotius said:

Then map of the Solar system is a good start. Also making clay orbs and engraving them with silhouettes of all continents and biggest islands(more or less acurately LOL). Make sure your orbs are properly fired before burying them everywhere around.

Yeah, maps would be readily recognizable, and maps that show the whole globe would be obviously non-ancient.

[kerbiloid]

4 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

If you do a big complex with the inscriptions in the center of the temple,

it will burn together with temple. Sooner or later.
Not an artifact, but a mental system can survive. Ritual systems, superstitions, sacred systems enough easy to understand. Games for money. Enochian writing.

Edited June 1, 2018 by kerbiloid