One of the recurrent pressing problems in the US is how to deal with nuclear waste in a way that those who come upon that waste in a couple millenia will recognize the danger inherent in the containers.

How can we make the message clear to those in the future, when English (and any other “modern language” will by then be ancient languages–perhaps unreadable by future generations. And we’ve all seen the movies–war or disaster wipe out modern technology, leaving the survivors only rudimentary skills and the need to rebuild/recreate the technology of even a century ago.

With that in mind, I find the following discovery to be quite worrisome.

In the ruins of a city that was once Rome’s neighbor, archaeologists last summer found a 1,000-pound lead coffin.

Who or what is inside is still a mystery, said Nicola Terrenato…

…”It’s a sheet of lead folded onto itself an inch thick,” he said. “A thousand pounds of metal is an enormous amount of wealth in this era. To waste so much of it in a burial is pretty unusual.”

Yeah, let’s just go ahead and open that right up. I’m sure it’s perfectly safe.