Editing Toynbee tiles (section)

{{short description|Messages of unknown origin found embedded in asphalt of streets}}
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2019}}
[[File:Toynbee tile at franklin square 2002.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|{{ubl|Top: Large, colorful Toynbee tile found in downtown [[Washington, D.C.]]|Bottom: Closeup of its bottom tab, apparently mentioning the [[Soviet Union]], which had been gone for years by the time this photo was taken. ("As media U.S.S.R. and Fronts are against it.")}}]]

The '''Toynbee tiles''', also called '''Toynbee plaques''', are messages of unknown origin found embedded in [[Asphalt concrete|asphalt]] of streets in about two dozen major cities in the United States and three South American cities.<ref name=toynbee>{{cite web|url=http://www.toynbee.net/ |title=What Is It? |access-date=2010-10-11 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071218004343/http://www.toynbee.net/ |archive-date = 2007-12-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Correa|first1=Vanessa|last2=Spinelli|first2=Evandro|title=Placa misteriosa é cravada no asfalto da avenida Paulista|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/801119-placa-misteriosa-e-cravada-no-asfalto-da-avenida-paulista.shtml|access-date=19 September 2010|newspaper=[[Folha de S. Paulo]]|date=19 September 2010|language=pt}}</ref> Since the 1980s, several hundred tiles have been discovered. They are generally about the size of an American [[license plate]] (roughly {{convert|30|by|15|cm|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}), but sometimes considerably larger. They contain some variation of the following inscription:

<blockquote><poem>
TOYNBEE IDEA
IN MOViE `2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPiTER
</poem></blockquote>

Some of the more elaborate tiles also feature cryptic political statements or exhort readers to create and install similar tiles. The material used for making the tiles was initially unknown, but evidence has emerged that they may be primarily made of layers of [[linoleum]] and asphalt crack-filling compound.<ref>{{cite book|title=Recipes for Disaster, an Anarchist Cookbook|date=2012|publisher=CrimethInc. Ex-workers Collective|page=48|url=http://www.crimethinc.com|author=CrimethInc. Ex-workers Collective|edition=2nd}}</ref> Articles about the tiles began appearing in the mid-1990s, though references may have started to appear in the mid-1980s.<ref name="citybeat">{{cite news |last=Stoehr |first=John |title=Out of This World |publisher=Cincinnati City Beat |date=2001-08-02 |url=http://www.citybeat.com/2001-08-02/news.shtml |access-date=2006-12-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205032234/http://citybeat.com/2001-08-02/news.shtml |archive-date=2006-12-05}}</ref>