Archaeologists’ Log of the Hoard Discovery

An accident at MIT leads to a nuclear explosion in Cambridge, MA in the Summer of 2008. The greater Boston area is reduced to rubble. In October of 2812, a team of archeologists from Oxford begins excavations at the site of South Station. Wearing hazardous materials suits to protect against radioactivity, layers of debris are peeled away to reveal caverns that were parts of the old subway station. A bank of lockers yields an amazing discovery, a hoard of luxury objects ranging from cell phones to  rosary beads to dolls. The objects bear minimal damage, just covered with a layer of dust and grime.

The archeologists catalogue and photograph each object and it becomes clear that these materials belonged to 12 year old girls. The discovery is hailed as a breakthrough in understanding “tween” culture of the early 21st century yet as scholars delve further into the study of these objects a more sinister side to the objects comes to the surface.

Through complex data mining and archival research, scholars proved that the hoard of objects was the result of a long-term bullying campaign waged against girls from an elite Catholic school in Worcester, MA. The girls were too scared and humiliated to contact the police, etc. but the bullies made the mistake of bragging on digital social networking sites such as Facebook. Targeted by a group from a rival school, these girls were bullied online and finally robbed. The girls from both schools wore uniforms, leaving their accessories as their only markers of personal identity and creativity. Cell phones were decorated with highly personalized cases, even rosary beads were elaborately bejeweled.  It seems the bully girls had chosen girls with the most expensive and precious stuff as their targets; they stashed their steal in a South Station locker and planned to run away to New York City.

By 2812 violence of any kind is obsolete. Once scholars discovered the nature of the South Station Hoard they became horrified and completely at a loss. Turning from elation over the find to grief over its context, this material becomes a record not only of tween culture but also of a violent past.