They were the subject of much debate in the year 4003ad. Archaeologists had been fast at work examining artifacts recently discovered as the result of a massive earthquake in the Pacific Ocean. The quake had brought to the surface a sizable landmass, which had been submerged for 2000 years after a great quake in the 21st century. The total area of the drying muck was several thousand square miles and was known to have been the location of one of the North American continents largest centers of population around the year 1998.

     Scientists, archaeologists, and historians alike were tremendously excited by these events. In 3045ad, almost all information pertaining to the 21st century had been lost when the impact of a massive asteroid striking Antarctica released an electro magnetic storm that had erased the memory banks of the planets computer systems. Now the scientific community had a unique chance to rediscover the past.

     It was a colossal job and a job that created many arguments. Nobody could agree on what many of the artifacts were, and having no point of reference just made things worse. Eventually things began to sort themselves out. Machines were the first to be identified, various methods of transportation and so on. Articles of daily life came next for the human form had not changed much over the years. After fifty years of intense study all the artifacts had been identified accurately with the exception of one.

     The nature of the disaster, in the beginning of the 21st century, was such that a massive portion of the continent had slid abruptly into the ocean. Millions died and were entombed in the mud where their corpses were remarkably preserved. It was the nature of these skeletons that was the source of mystery for the 23rd century archaeologists.

     It seemed that among the female skeletons, in a measurable percentage, there was found to be pairs of gelatinous orbs. The orbs were situated in the chest cavities. The many scientists who studied this unusual discovery could find no obvious medical reason why the orbs should be there. Only that the orbs were apparently inert and filled with silicone. There was little evidence, in what the anthropologists were able to learn of the ancient civilization, to suggest what the strange orbs were for as well. Being that the graves of these long dead women had happened in a natural, if unexpected, disaster meant that there could not have been any ceremonial significance to them. It was a subject of great debate for many years but the mystery was never solved. Eventually the mysterious orbs were recorded as just plain weird and presented in museum exhibits along with other artifacts cataloged under “Life in the 21st Century”.