xenoarcheological

“Permission to jettison waste,” Bradley asks in a transparent effort to attract the Commander’s attention. If the Ensign has a weakness, it’s this wanting to be noticed by superiors. I look round to see who’ll explain what he’s talking about. He does the honors himself. “After the water is salvaged, our wastes, including the carbon from the air, get compressed and jettisoned. No room for fancy recycling gear.” “Hang on to it,” the Old Man says. He turns to me. “Can’t you picture it? The mother plowing along in norm surrounded by a cloud of shit canisters.” He smiles, munches his apple. Just when I give up on hearing the rest, he says, “A million years from now an alien civilization will find one. It’ll be the biggest puzzle in their xenoarcheological museum. I can see them putting in fifty thousand creature hours trying to figure out its religious significance.”

1985, Glen Cook, “First Climb”, in Passage At Arms (Science Fiction), San Francisco: Night Shade Books, published 2007, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 72

Penetrating scans have revealed large numbers of hollow, unpowered objects with dimensions of 3.14 by 12.56 by 28.26 meters circulating in the equatorial cloud bands. These objects appear to have "sails" or "wings" attached, allowing them to be borne aloft by Anjea's winds. While they are too deep to be reached for study, popular conjecture in xenoarcheological circles holds that they are "coffins" of an ancient race who laid their dead to rest in the gas giant.

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2: Normandy Crash Site (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Anjea

Taking a step forward, Nozawa rested her hands on the red handrail that separated the rear consoles from the command center. “They look like the remains of an ancient city. So there must have been life on LC-13-II, a civilization even.” Excitedly she turned to face Haden. “Sir, with your permission I’d like to inspect those more thoroughly. This might be a xenoarcheological find of epic proportions.”

2017 November, Bernd Perplies, Christian Humberg, Star Trek Prometheus: Fire with Fire, 1st edition (Science Fiction), Titan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 13