If we intentionally preserve "trash" then all we tell our future generations is what we thought was relevant. Which is telling but not like seeing every aspect of human life in a 100 year old dump,(reply>), It may not be <b>every</b> thing, but it really is a lot. Nothing on that beach has been selectively curated for preservation, but rather it has remained in the same state it was left in back in the 1920s. Many of those "artifacts", as crazy as it sounds, let us know that this time period really did happen, and that these people really did exist. The Ancient Egyptians also selectively chose what to and not preserve (e.g. mummifying royalty and priests), which may not give us the full story, but it lets us know that this civilization did exist and gives us glimpses into their lives. The fact of the matter is that humans have been selectively "preserving" things since human history began, and when we do find an entirely preserved city or town, it certainly wasn't intentional.,(reply>), @Thomas Blazek Don't worry, there are plenty of human records in the soils, seas and air, from quarries, to organophosphates and methane gas, plenty of plastics in all varieties and plenty of landfills all around the world... Just take out your trash. Bottles from 1930s are not archaeological relics.,(reply>), @Thomas Blazek Well said 👍👍,(reply>), True. But: In the last few decades our society has shifted towards eradicating traces. Buildings are no longer built on top of the ruins of older buildings, instead the place is excavated to dig a foundation. Trash is no longer just dumped, it is shredded, separated and stored in a way that loses a lot of information. This is of course not ubiquitous. But there is a trend. We tend to wipe out a lot of the traces that archeologists rely on in finding out about past civilizations. Look at this beach: one or two hundred years ago, the beach wouldn't have been cleaned up, and after sufficient time, and layers of sand, the artifacts would have been there to dig up. For our society, this is of course a good thing, as it often is a sign of environmental awareness and sustainability. But future Archeologists may end up relying on time capsules that we intentionally leave for them, as we eradicate more and more of the unintentional debris.