time capsule
noun1
A sealed container, buried at a specific location, that contains records of contemporary life, to be rediscovered in the distant future.
- Rail Minister Lord Hendy has placed a time capsule at Ravensthorpe, as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) project. Hendy was joined by Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin, local schoolchildren and TRU apprentices at the burial of the time capsule, which will sit under foundations of a new viaduct.2025 March 19, “News in pictures: Time capsule buried at Ravensthorpe”, in RAIL, number 1031, page 29, photo caption:
2
Figuratively An object, place, or collection that encapsulates and preserves the characteristics, culture or essence of a particular time period, usually due to isolation or some specific external influence.
- As we've seen, Belarus is a Soviet time capsule that continues only because Russia is keeping it on life support.2011, Francis Tapon, The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us, page 135:
- Related terms
- memory box