When civilizations look back on those that came before, they often want to know what happened. How did these people live? Why did they disappear? Ceramic sherds – or shards -, made from one of the most durable materials on earth, are some of the most plentiful and useful records of disappeared societies. Our modern archeological excavations have uncovered potsherds as old as 18,300 years, and their study reveals much about these silent, lost civilizations, as well as the history of humankind on the planet.

The UN has declared we have 10 years in which to drastically alter our actions related to the environment, or face “irreversible damage” to our planet and our civilizations. In light of this current crisis, and the dramatic shifts due to climate change, overpopulation, resource depletion, land loss, natural disasters, wars, mass human displacement, pandemics, and food scarcity from man-made and natural causes, The Shard Project seeks to record the realities and reasons for the current crisis…and our very real – and possibly very tragic – future.

Intended to last thousands of years, long after the digital record is unreadable, these potsherds, made from local clay materials from around the country, are an acknowledgement and a confession, a recitation and an atonement. Starkly factual, brutal in their honesty, they tell the story of what happened to us, how we contributed to the crisis, – and what we did…and didn’t do – to protect ourselves and our planet home for the future.

for more information, visit The Shard Project