The "post-apocalyptic log"

[Ireth]

I'm working on a story in a post-apocalyptic setting, and I need help. I want there to be a journal of some sort written by one of the survivors of the cataclysm, which would be copied out and distributed en masse among the remnants of humanity, to be passed down generation by generation as a look into how the word used to be. I don't think it would have any religious significance, but it would still be hugely important.

The cataclysm in question is a godly one, created by a sea goddess after human pollution and overfishing killed off many of Her children, the merfolk. The goddess' anger would target all of the most technologically advanced places in the world, anywhere where metal was widely used, since earth metals are toxic to merfolk. The cataclysm involves having all the crude oil that had spilled into the seas flung back onto the land and burned away via lightning storms that spark wildfires, and then all worked metal being taken back down deep under the crust through gaping chasms opening in the earth. (I would expect planes, submarines, ships etc. would also be brought down.) Basically, entire cities would just disappear, and everything with them. No ruins or anything left behind for survivors to scramble through.

Back to the point... in the wake of such a disaster, something that sends humans essentially from the technology of today back to Stone Age levels until they regain the means to start mining for metal again, how might such a journal come to be, and how would it be passed down? (For the purposes of my story, society has just barely advanced back to the Bronze Age, and the MC will see and use a bronze-headed spear for the first time.)

 

[Russ]

Hand copying on animal skins is probably your best bet.

There is lots of interesting info out there on oral traditions as well. Pretty amazing stuff.

Or both come to think of it.

It also depends on just how long or large this thing is.

Fascinating story idea btw :smoke:

 

[CupofJoe]

Papyrus and paints/inks were around before there were significant metal artefacts. Paper making almost as far back as far as we know... many artists will make their own pigments and dyes, so inks shouldn't be that different...
There are Chinese documents that reportedly originate hundreds if not a thousand years and more ago, and the bureaucracy of the empire was such that scribes were employed to recopy the bamboo and ink staves as they got faint to preserve the information. I've seen copies in the British Museum that are themselves a couple of hundred years old and supposedly the 6-7-8 generation of the written work.
Then there are Native American cultures used animal hides and Embroidery/Tapestry to tell tales...
And the Inca used knots in string as a form [not fully understood by us] of accounting...
And even in the British legal system... all laws are hand copied on to vellum because it is said to be more stable than paper...

 

[Ireth]

Thanks! It's actually a bit of a perspective flip of a novel I'm working on -- the novel is from the POV of one of the merfolk, and the MC if this story is a supporting character there. This story will show how the human guy ends up among the merfolk from his POV. The post-apoc log isn't a huge part of the story, but it is essential to explain the backstory. Sadly I only have 5k words to work with, as this is for Phil Overby's Diversity challenge. Should be a fun challenge, though!

 

[Russ]

Stone tablets also lend a certain weight if the people don't move around too much.

And if you want to be creative people could have passages or the whole darned thing tatooed on their body.

 

[Ireth]

Now THAT is a cool idea! Wouldn't hold water for some, like those who are totally adverse to tattoos (whether because they follow the Old Testament/Torah to the letter or not), but for others I could definitely see it happening. "This must be remembered."

 

[BronzeOracle]

This is a fascinating concept Ireth. I love post-apocalyptic themes.

Beyond the written record, you could also have songs and stories - particularly those that children learn. Think "ring a ring a rosies" which I believe is about the black death.

I could be getting this wrong, but I believe Indigenous Australians used song lines to get from A to B. Myths, legends and songs are told that relate to features of a landscape to keep people navigating correctly, or to warn against dangers that are hidden to logical thought or scientific understanding. Songs and stories are used to retain knowledge as they tap into the human mind's aesthetic conduit for understanding and storing information. Hey even as an engineer I was told 'if you want to attract a client, tell a compelling story, don't just give information'. There is a fantastic talk by philosopher Alain du Botton available on the net where he argues that journalists need to find ways of creatively communicating about the important things in the world in order to cut through to their audience.

If you think about what important details the log would retain/instruct, that would help with what oral forms the log could take. It could be used while travelling, in rites of passage, during meals, during ceremonies, upon death, birth or marriage etc.

There could also be art forms that record what happened, or record the creative/spiritual efforts of survivors trying to make sense of what happened. Standing stones, mounds, apparently bizarre edifices/sculptures, carvings on rocks etc. Their meaning may have been since lost, particularly if its an oral tradition, or may have since been reinterpreted and become something new in the descendants of the survivors. Either way they could add richness to your world.