130-Year-Old 'Time Capsule' Found In Base Of Razed Statue In US, X-Ray Images Surface

The copper box weighing 36 pounds could contain coins, books, buttons, and even ammunition from the Civil War, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam tweeted.

The 'time capsule', a copper box, found at the site where a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general, once stood | Photo: Twitter/@GovernorVA

New Delhi: A ‘time capsule’ has been found once again at the same site in Richmond, Virginia, where a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general, once stood, the US media reported.

Quoting a spokesperson of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, a CNN report said this is the second ‘time capsule’ to have been unearthed at the site.

What is being referred to as a ‘time capsule’ is a copper box found beneath the pedestal of the statue Monday. 

"They found it!" Virginia Governor Ralph Northam tweeted. "This is likely the time capsule everyone was looking for."

They found it! This is likely the time capsule everyone was looking for. Conservators studying it—stay tuned for next steps! (Won’t be opened today) pic.twitter.com/3lWrsPGZd2

— Governor Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) December 27, 2021

Quoting Department of Historic Resources Director Julie Langan, the CNN report said the box was found “in a very wet area", and that it was too early to know if water had entered the box.

The copper box measuring 13.5 inches by 13.5 inches by 7.5 inches weighs 36 pounds, Langan was quoted as saying in the report.

“X-rays give a first look inside the time capsule: Experts believe there may be coins, books, buttons, and even ammunition from the Civil War,” Northam posted in another tweet accompanied by pictures.

X-rays give a first look inside the time capsule: Experts believe there may be coins, books, buttons, and even ammunition from the Civil War.

The box will be opened tomorrow at 1:00 PM! pic.twitter.com/zyVWoHa61o

— Governor Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) December 27, 2021

Who Was Robert E. Lee?

The copper box is believed to have been buried 130 years ago, according to an AFP report.

Quoting an 1887 newspaper article, the report said a time capsule hidden in the base of Lee’s statue contained relics such as buttons and bullets, currency, maps etc.

Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War, and the box is also believed to contain a rare picture of assassinated US president Abraham Lincoln in his coffin and other items, the report said.

The statue in Richmond, the city that was the capital of the South during the 1861-65 conflict, was brought down in September. It was one of the monuments to the pro-slavery Confederacy removed of late by authorities.

A box, half the size of the one unearthed on Monday, was found in the base of the statue on December 17 when workers were dismantling the statue's 40-foot pedastal.

Conservators last week opened the first box, but it was not the time capsule mentioned in the 1887 article, the AFP report said, adding that items included three books, a coin and a photograph in a cloth envelope. 

Lee's statue was the focus of last year’s protests demanding racial justice after the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minnesota.

During the Civil War, the Confederate South had seceded from the US and fought to maintain slavery, which had been abolished in the rest of the country.