I propose an ‘Oil Age’ ship burial in the tradition of the Saxon ship burials at Sutton Hoo and Snape.
But there will be no body. Instead, the plastic artefacts of everyday life - a ‘poem written with material culture’* - will journey into eternity: a celebration of what we have enjoyed… and a mourning of what we have squandered.
*Martin Carver:  Sutton Hoo – Burial Ground of Kings? (1998)

Living near the dramatic burial ground of Sutton Hoo, I have long been fascinated by what future societies might make of the ways in which we are using up the rich but finite resources of the oil age, not least in the production of billions of tonnes of ‘disposable’ plastic: I describe it as ‘a million years of stored sunshine used up in a plastic cup.’ And, worse still, our prolific use of plastics is contributing to climate change too.
This fascination has spawned the idea of a contemporary ship burial: everyday icons of the oil age magnificently buried beneath a large mound, a symbol of our legacy to a future beyond oil.  I imagine crafting a 'ship', inspired by the Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, from the 46000 pieces of plastic marine litter which I collected whilst walking to save some sea. The act of its burial could be seen as an acknowledgment that this 21st century way of life may only endure in the detritus it leaves behind: we will in effect be ‘burying the present’.
I imagine my ship one day being unearthed by the sea in some future storm event as sea levels rise and coasts erode: in a time beyond oil the ship will present an enigma to future generations who will try to piece together the significance of this burial and its strange artefacts and to imagine what kind of society could have created it.

The ship will be my poem written with our material culture which will journey into eternity: a celebration of what we have enjoyed… and a mourning of what we have squandered. A talking point and a provocation: to think about the way we live..., climate change..., our legacy...

What would you use to create your symbol of the oil age? Please send your ideas here.