Vault filled with time capsules to be buried at Maropeng
The vault and its thousands of time capsules will be buried at least two metres underground.
South Africa is set to get a vault filled with time capsules on a scale that’s never been seen here, and seldom anywhere else on Earth.
Vault2120 will be located at Maropeng in the Cradle of Humankind, and will be sealed in November and will only be opened 101 years later (in 2120).
The Vault2120 project is an ambitious and inspiring undertaking that will see thousands of South Africans and South African organisations collaborate on collating a collection of artifacts, information, art, ideas, technology and predictions that will give future generations insight into life in South Africa in 2019.
It will show what our world is like today, and how we live and engage with each other. The vault will also be a vessel for messages to future generations and predictions by present-day people on what the future could be like. The project is designed to safely store artefacts, from the mundane to the priceless, that will tell the collective story of our lives in South Africa at the beginning of the 21st century.
Dr Eugene Botha (founder) and Graham Coetzer (managing director) are the masterminds behind Vault2120. They began work on the idea early last year, and have now premiered it to the nation, to huge interest from corporates, celebrities and regular people alike.
The idea, he says, is to preserve a slice of this century because what we do today, think today, make today and invest in today has consequences, both for ourselves and for those who will come after us.
The vault and its thousands of time capsules will be buried at least two metres underground at the Maropeng Visitor Centre. There it will lie for 101 years. Apart from the underground vault there will also be a vault visitor centre where people will be able to have a real Vault Experience, and see actual time capsules awaiting opening.
In addition, the visitor centre will also have a postbox-like chamber where people will be able to deposit letters, poems and sketches over the 101 years until the underground vault is opened. There are plans afoot, too, for people to deposit a sample of their DNA (through giving a cheek swab) that will be preserved. This will give future researchers a chronological record of the human genome, collected over 101 years.
As Vault2120 goes into production, a panel has been appointed to advise on every aspect of the project; from marketing to design, construction and contents of the vault.
For more information, visit https://www.vault2120southafrica.co.za.
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