What a Relief: Finding Humor in Ancient Art and Modern Life

The other day, I explored an Egyptian site using my local library's VR headset (Y'all have got to try VR!).

The experience was surreal, seeing reliefs depicting daily life in ancient Egypt as if I was standing right there in person! It got me thinking: what if we drew ourselves doing our everyday tasks on our walls? I imagined the mundane activities and little life events I might illustrate, chuckling at the idea of leaving these for posterity--which I already do with my shtick people, but on my walls? While I wouldn’t actually draw on my walls, this would make for a fun life-sketching experiment—especially when placed side-by-side with ancient Egyptian reliefs for a humorous contrasting comparison.

Virtual reality, now etched in stone. Will future archaeologists mistake me for worshipping something? Wait...

In this little experiment, I decided to look up some fun ancient Egyptian reliefs to see what story they might remind me of in my own life—everyday things I do but never really think of as sketch-worthy or story-worthy. And guess what? It worked!

What can be more mundane than the image of you walking to your car on your way to work? What story could there be to this? Why, the fact that you seem to always forget your phone!

My carved image ready to be interpreted by future archaeologists. Lol

Did you know the eye roll thing has likely been around for centuries?

Here’s a sandstone relief to make sure the eye roll gesture will be documented for future generations and doesn’t fall out of use like the spitting-on-your-hand-before-a-handshake gesture did.

From ancient prayers to modern snaps, everyone loves a good celestial event.

Will future archaeologists think we were being sucked into a black hole?

The Eyes of Horus have nothing on a mom with a smartphone!

Will they think those are empty-nester tears?

I wish college textbook stores would take lotus flowers, though :(

Maybe future archaeologists will think those are flower offerings.

Some offerings are less divine than others. Why does he always do this?

Stop!

Lol. Anubis is holding the ankh like a remote control! Click! You don’t get into heaven!

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Ancient symbols of protection, meet modern symbols of wishful thinking.

Don’t tell anyone.

What everyday moment in your life would you like to see etched in stone for future generations to interpret?

If future archaeologists found a carving of you doing something mundane, what would it be, and what would they think you were doing?

Which modern-day activity do you think would baffle future historians the most if carved into stone?

What do you think future generations will misunderstand about our daily rituals?

Have you ever had a moment that felt so epic—or so ridiculous—that it should be immortalized in stone?