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Alien artefact

From TARDIS Index File, the free Doctor Who reference.

Alien artefacts is a general term for objects displaced through time or space, or even from other dimensions, to places where they do not belong. The methods of displacement were diverse, though often accidental, for example when found after a spaceship crash or other incident. They could also be left behind by travelers by accident or because they were no longer considered valuable, and sometimes would simply fall out of the sky or out of a time rift. As for their nature, they could be almost anything, from technological items to body parts.

Alien artefacts were greatly valued on 20th and 21st century Earth, for they were often examples of technology more advanced than that was available on Earth at the time. However, artefacts could also often pose a danger to people who did not know what the dangers were.

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[edit] Collectors

By the 20th century, when the existence of aliens was theorised but not yet proven, many collectors of alien artefacts operated on Earth. There were passionate laymen as well as millionaires and organisations, and objects were collected for their exotic value as well as for reverse-engineering.

By the 21st century, a limited underground market for alien artefacts seemed to exist. After the fall of Torchwood 1, Dogon Sixth Eyes had leaked onto eBay, being particularly popular in Belgium. Mary informed Toshiko Sato that a grey market existed in the trade of artefacts and claimed that she had acquired her telepathy pendant through it. (TW: Random Shoes, Greeks Bearing Gifts) Sean "Bernie" Harries derived at least some income from selling fenced alien artefacts which had arrived on Earth via the Cardiff Rift (TW: Ghost Machine), but as Owen Harper observed, "there are some real rogues out there", and fake artefacts outnumbered real ones in the market.

As Mary was an alien herself, she may have been lying about the true origins of the pendant.

[edit] Individuals

A few individual humans have had sought to make collections of these items just for the fun of it, as those that Eugene Jones kept in a display case in his bedroom. All of them were fake though, apart from a single Dogon Sixth Eye. (TW: Random Shoes) Henry Parker, a significantly more wealthy collector, had by his death collected many genuine artefacts. (TW: A Day in the Death)

Julius Silverstein, another millionaire, kept Great Intelligence control spheres and deactivated Yeti, having no idea of their real significance. (DW: The Web of Fear). Sarah Jane Smith had during all her adventures also accumulated a large amount of alien artifacts.

[edit] Companies and organizations

The largest collection of alien artifacts on Earth was maintained by UNIT, in a Great Britain-based facility known as the Black Archive. (SJA: Enemy of the Bane)

C19 maintained a similar Vault, simply known as the Vault, in Northumberland. (MA: The Scales of Injustice)

The Torchwood Institute (whose motto was "If it's alien, it's ours") studied artefacts and put their findings to some use to try and help rebuild the British Empire, even to the extent of shooting alien spacecraft out of the sky. (DW: Army of Ghosts). After the destruction of their London facility some of the artifacts found their way to private collectors.

Part of Leamington Spa Lifeboat Museum stored several alien artefacts, including dismembered body parts (such as a Cyberman head and Werewolf claws), alien technology (such as a Chula ambulance and the makeshift bomb devised by the Doctor during the 2005 Nestene invasion of London) and other artefacts (such as a Sycorax sword). (WEB: whoisdoctorwho.co.uk)

The Pharm was a government-approved organisation operating in the 21st century near Cardiff. They collected living aliens as a source for their medical research program. It was shut down by Torchwood in 2008. (TW: Reset)

GeoComTex's Vault contained a private museum maintained by Henry van Statten, where various alien artefacts were stored and studied, often modified to create such devices as broadband connections and cures for various diseases. After van Statten's disappearance in 2012 this facility seems to have been shut down. (DW: Dalek)

Other organizations, unknown to the public, which sought to appropriate alien technology have included Glasshouse and the Forge. The Library of St John the Beheaded was somewhat similar in that it contained texts containing evidence of alien life. (MA: The Scales of Injustice, BFA: Project Twilight, NA: All-Consuming Fire)

As the Pharos Institute experimented with technology way beyond what would be expected in 2009, the origins of the MITRE headset might also be alien.

[edit] List of alien artefacts

[edit] Collected by the Torchwood Institute

[edit] Located at Torchwood 1

[edit] Located at Torchwood 3

[edit] Located at unknown Torchwood locations

[edit] Collected by GeoComTex

This particular model Cyberman shows slight deviations from the model present on Earth during this invasion.

[edit] Collected by Leamington Spa Lifeboat Museum

Not all of these artefacts were truly alien, but in many cases were found at the same site as an alien artefact and were presumed to be related (e.g the satsuma and the Sycorax sword) or were just plain mysterious. (e.g the Mona Lisa, which had "This is a fake" written in felt-tip pen on the canvas, despite being created hundreds of years before the felt-tip pen was invented)

[edit] Level 1

[edit] Level 2

[edit] Level 3

[edit] Level 4

Presumably the museum had many more artefacts, as five other artefacts were being repaired.

[edit] Artifacts in private collections

[edit] Collected by Sarah Jane Smith

[edit] Collected by Henry Parker

  • Dogon Eye
  • Adweam Hunting Rifle
  • One pair of Myakian wings
  • Cyberman arm and chest unit
  • Nerauinan Timepiece
  • Correspondence from the court of Trypticon
  • The Pulse
  • Ceremonial Sword possibly Fushari
  • Singing Ringing Tree of Paremor
  • Mantocristolian jewellery
  • An entire intelligent civilisation in a jam jar
  • Incomplete Raltean armour that belonged to a high-ranking officer
  • Hat that once belonged to Robert Mitchum
  • 24 chondrite meteorites
  • 7 achondite meteorites
  • 3 iron meteorites
  • 4 stony-iron meteorites
  • 17 tektites
  • A copy of The Fog by James Herbert, translated into Arcateenian

[edit] Minor collections and individual objects

[edit] Uncollected or undiscovered

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