25 Ideas for Lost Buried Artifacts to be Discovered in Your World

You see! You’ve just found a hidden artifact! 👇🏾

Lost or buried [[Artifacts|artifacts]] offer a window into the past, present and future allowing us to understand the cultures, lifestyles, and histories of civilizations in [[Open Worldbuilding|the fictional worlds we create]].

Here’s a list of different buried artifacts that characters in your worlds can literally dig up and discover.

These artifacts can drive entire plots of their respective narratives, serving as items of immense power, tools for characters, or symbols of broader themes:

  1. Bones: Remains of humans, animals & prehistoric creatures.
  2. Pottery: Ceramic vessels and objects, often painted or decorated.
  3. Fabric & Textiles: Pieces of woven or knitted materials, including ancient clothing, rugs, and tapestries.
  4. Stone Tools: Items like arrowheads, hand axes, and other tools made from stone.
  5. Metal Implements: Items like ancient weapons, armor, or tools made from bronze, iron, or other metals.
  6. Coins: Ancient and historical currency from different cultures.
  7. Manuscripts: Written documents, scrolls, and books from various eras.
  8. Paintings: Artwork on canvas, wood panels, or plaster.
  9. Statues: Sculpted figures made from materials like stone, bronze, or wood.
  10. Jewelry: Necklaces, rings, bracelets, and other adornments.
  11. Seals & Stamps: Items used to imprint designs or signatures onto other materials.
  12. Fossils: Remains or impressions of ancient plants and animals other than dinosaurs.
  13. Religious Relics: Items of religious significance, such as fragments of the True Cross or Buddha’s relics.
  14. Mummies: Preserved remains of humans or animals.
  15. Musical Instruments: Ancient versions of lyres, flutes, drums, etc.
  16. Ceremonial Objects: Items used in rituals or ceremonies, like masks, chalices, or incense burners.
  17. Toys & Games: Ancient playthings or board games like the Egyptian game Senet.
  18. Architectural Fragments: Pieces of ancient buildings or structures, like pillars, frescoes, or bricks.
  19. Glassware: Items made from glass, such as vases, bottles, or ornaments.
  20. Inscriptions: Writings or carvings on stone, metal, or other hard surfaces.
  21. Bone Tools: Implements made from animal bones, like needles or scrapers.
  22. Cuneiform Tablets: Early forms of writing on clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia.
  23. Hieroglyphic Steles: Stone slabs with Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions.
  24. Shipwrecks: Sunken ships that can carry a trove of artifacts from a particular era.
  25. Personal Items: Everyday objects like combs, mirrors, or footwear.

When used in interesting ways, these and other types of artifacts can create truly iconic artifacts such as lightsabers in “Star Wars”, the Iron Throne in “A Song of Ice and Fire” (aka Game of Thrones) and many other famous artifacts…