Treasures of Aqua

A startling and important archaeological discovery was recently made in the area of our planet once known as California, when a cache of artifacts dating from the 1960s was unearthed, relatively intact, during the building of the transglobal tunnel. The best scholars from a score of disciplines -- including archaeology, history, languages and anthropology -- have studied and interpreted these artifacts and have mounted an exhibition that will open at the Metroplex Museum of Art next year. Never has so great a body of information been available about a time and culture of which we have previously known so little. The artifacts were uncovered by a construction crew in the ruins of a postindustrial town known as Berkeley ("zip code" coordinate 94704). The primary dig site comprised an area approximately 105 yards long by 44 yards wide. Additional objects were discovered as much as one quarter of a mile away, in an area believed to have been the location of the University of California at Berkeley. Unfortunately, practically nothing of the great institution remains, but its grandeur is legendary. The campus alone was the size of a small city, with its classrooms, laboratories, stadia and great public squares, all of which played an essential role on the dramatic events of the time.