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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lordmarcovan, post: 3126943, member: 10461&quot;]<font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">... </span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><b><i>Mud</i>.&nbsp; </b>The box is full to the top with tightly compacted mud.&nbsp; It is obvious that it had not kept a watertight seal during its long burial in the ground.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">No wonder it had been so heavy when he lifted it from the hole and carried it into the house!</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">But of course our homeowner wants to know what&#039;s <i>beneath</i> the mud.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">By now we know he&#039;s no archaeologist and is unlikely to ever get work in a conservation lab.&nbsp; In fact, some years later he will watch news coverage of the recovery and conservation of the Confederate submarine <i><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation-restoration_of_the_H.L._Hunley" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation-restoration_of_the_H.L._Hunley" rel="nofollow">H.L. Hunley</a></i> after it is raised from its watery tomb off Charleston in the year 2000, and he will cringe slightly to remember how indelicately he opened this box.&nbsp; But that is not part of our story.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">He takes the box over to the laundry sink in the utility room and attempts to set it down inside that, but it is just slightly too wide to fit into the sink.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">So he carries it out to the carport, sets it down on the concrete slab, opens the garage door, and goes around the corner to get the hose.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">He turns the hose on and directs a jet of water at the packed mud that fills the box.&nbsp; Clumps of it begin to fall out of the box as the water flows and carries the mud over the edge.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">At first there is nothing but water and mud flowing from the box.&nbsp; A rivulet of dirty and rusty water begins to trickle across the concrete floor and flows out into the driveway.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">But soon something other than mud begins to trickle with the outflow.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">He sees small flecks of light greyish material, speckled with black.&nbsp; A few are also stained orange, from the rust that got inside the box.</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">He realizes these are tiny bits of badly deteriorated paper, and the black flecks are old print on the paper.&nbsp; </span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600"><br /></span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"><span style="color: #006600">...</span></font></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><font size="5"></font></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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