A SOUND OF PLUNDER

If you were transported back in time for a month or more, what would you bring from the present?

It is not here our need nor our intent to comment on the technology involved in such an action, and so we must take the notion of time travel as a done deal that we do not have to think about. There are certain conventions we should probably note that are so well planned and conventional that you never have to even consider them. We shall therefore make it a convention that any method you use for traveling back in time is accompanied by a mechanism for returning you to the present.

We have to make the leap of faith that there is no language difficulties, though the accents might be amusing. We assume that there is a space about the person of the time traveler which can include material goods and convey them into the past. Let us further assume that you have done enough research to know an appropriate time to visit, appropriate clothing and an appropriate area for your appearance so that you are not appearing as some kind of angelic apparition in the middle of a crowded London street. Appropriate health immunizations (no non-vaxers need apply). Can you have tattoos or other body mods? Let us err on the side of caution for the most part, but even if tattoos were discovered to be common, certain tattoos—such as that of the Tasmanian Devil—should be avoided!

You obviously do not want to bring back any watches—digital or mechanical, large or small—with you, as well as no spectacles. No garments made with modern fabrics, especially artificial, or made with modern mechanical devices, should be brought. Even modern colors, dyes or anything that might alter the progress of time and technology. In fact, there are certain drawbacks to almost anything that could be brought back in time.

If you have a list of historical events: Scores of games, victors of wars and battles, economic trends and the such, intending to make a fortune by betting on things, there is always the possibility that these accounts could fall into other people’s hands and so possibly change the future in a number of different ways, not merely because of the knowledge of future events but because someone might want to change something and so the course of time and construction of the future. (Do you really want to cause a Biff?) Any information about future events would need to be committed to memory.

If you brought back a modern firearm, and it fell into the hands of an inventive and resourceful person, it might engender the appearance of such firearms centuries before they were invented. Even its sheer appearance with bullets could change things even if it were not duplicated.
Bringing back edged weapona in the style of the time but made of modern metals is more innocent, but the quality of the metal might inspire smiths to try to duplicate the technology. While it is romantic, perhaps, to assume that this was the source of the Uhtred swords, it is a dangerous interference with the technology of the time!

For the most part, recording devices—such as cameras, camcorders and even audio recorders and certainly a computer—would be valuable; a person commented that five minutes of video footage from the battle of Hastings would be invaluable, but electric charges and batteries must be planned for and included. Realize that there will probably be no way to recharge an electrical device in the past. In addition, there is the matter that any such device must be disguised in some manner. Having a DVD player or a CD player or any similar device to play footage from the future or from the current time might be seen simply as magic…though that would no doubt create certain liabilities by itself!

In the end, perhaps the best thing you could bring would be a first-aid kit. Not only wold this be protective for the traveller, but many of the innovations would be accepted. If you look at, for example, Bald’s Leechbook. There were many healing devices that were used but not fully understood, so that you would not be changing things from altering the technology, though the use of such medicines might save someone who was supposed to die, so that time itself was changed.

Modern electrical or combustion vehicles would arouse too much interest and no doubt change history. Therefore, you would not want to bring automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles or plans, even if they were painted as or otherwise disguised as dragons. Hoof it or ride on a beast or in a wagon drawn by a beast!

It might be most pertinent to ask what you might bring back to the present. Certain any video, photography or audio recordings you might have made. Perhaps pieces of artwork, jewelry and other artifacts of various types. Complete garments would be invaluable for a number of reasons. These would be a great boon to archaeologists. However, if you have a more materialist and pecuniary motive, it might be just as simple and more certain to return to the summer of 1938 and to buy a few mint copies of Action Comics Number One!