Motel of the Mysteries

Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay is a lavishly illustrated 1979 book about Howard Carson, a future archaeologist who stumbles upon an extraordinarily well-preserved ancient tomb -- or so he thinks. Actually, it's a 20th-century motel.

• All Hail the Great God Mickey: Items recovered include the Great Altar (the television) and the Sacred Urn (the toilet); the general assumption of all the future archaeologists is that everything they find is religiously significant.
• After the End: While it wasn’t buried like North America, something is implied to have happened to the rest of the planet at some point. Even though some things have survived, such as the Germans and English, knowledge of the Rosetta Stone, etc, it is clear that accurate knowledge of America and at least some technology those people would have had has been lost.
• Ancient Astronauts: Parodied. The book's discussion of freeways could be taken, practically word-for-word, from a present-day von Dänikenite's description of the Nazca lines.
• Apocalypse How: The complete burial of North America in junk mail, ranking somewhere between Class 0 and Class 1.
  • The rest of the world made it through, but at some point was definitely set back a bit.
• Bathroom Stall Graffiti: A fragment is found, reproduced, and sold as alabaster or golden merchandise.
• Big Applesauce: Remnants still exist in the temples of Bigapple.
• Curse: Mirroring the legends of cursed Egyptian tombs, everyone who excavates Tomb 26 of the Motel is rumored to die in some strange way. Carson himself is killed by a rabid dromedary, and Harriet is killed setting up a sound system.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Most of the deductions in the book have some logic behind them. That doesn't mean they're right...
• Future Imperfect: The entire book runs on this. Most of its humor comes from the contrast between the awestruck tone of the text and the highly mundane illustrations which make it clear just how skewed a view of the 20th century the future archaeologists have.
• Government Agency of Fiction: The Department of Yank Antiquities has jurisdiction over the tomb in 4046.
• Lost Technology: The people of the future are apparently unable to match the craftsmanship of American plastic technology.
• The Merch: In-universe. The last few pages describe the gift shop items sold by the museum in conjunction with the Motel exhibit. They include a graffiti-covered section of bathroom wall (available in alabaster or 24-carat gold), a crystal paperweight containing a reproduction of the artificial plant from the hotel corridor, and so on.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Heinrich von Hooligan (Erich von Daniken); Howard Carlson (Howard Carter).
• Our Gods Are Greater: The book describes how the Yanks worshiped MOVIEA and MOVIEB. In addition the god of craftsmanship, Mica, seems to be associated with plastic goods.
• Precursors: The Yank civilization is this for the North American Continent. Canada and Mexico aren’t mentioned.
• Satire: The entire thing is a satire of King Tut's tomb.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Due to rumors of a curse, the Department of Yank Antiquities has the tomb closed.
• Schizo-Tech: The people analyzing the Yank culture have things like "high altitude infrared draftsmanship", but are unable to match the plastic quality of 1970's America.
• Toilet Humor: The deadpan descriptions of various bathroom items sometimes verge on this.