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 While preserving an 18th century wooden statue of Jesus, a team of Spanish restorers was surprised to discover a time capsule hidden within the hollowed-out ass portion of the carving. It contains key information about the period and details on popular pastimes, the economic situation, political and religious matters, famous people and other topics. The Madrid-based Da Vinci Restauro team uncovered the two handwritten pages when detaching a removable portion of the statue’s buttocks. Today, the wooden statue is kept at the church of Santa Agueda in the village of Sotillo de la Ribera in the northern Spanish province of Burgos. The document is signed by Joaquin Minguez, priest of the cathedral of Burgo de Osma at the time, and was recently unearthed by workers of the restoration company Da Vinci Restauro. Local historian Efren Arroyo was overwhelmed by the discovery: “It is amazing because it really is unique to find hidden handwritten documents inside such statues.” 
 
 As well as naming the statue’s sculptor and including data on local information ranging from agricultural matters to community affairs, the document highlighted common diseases, popular children’s games and even the names of popular bullfighters of the time. He makes mention of crops that were cultivated in the region, including harvests of wheat, rye, barley, and oats. He made a special reference to wine from the Aranda region, saying “its harvest is very numerous for many years, so much that in this time it has been seen, for not taking in the cellars, spilling much wine.” The chaplain describes common blights of the time, namely malaria and typhoid fever, while describing popular forms of entertainment, such “cards, ball, bald, bar and other puerile [i.e. A copy of the documents were produced and placed back inside the statue in respect for Joaquín Mínguez’s intentions.
– It turns out Jesus' butt has a lot to teach us about life in 18th century Spain. A wooden statue of Jesus on the cross hanging in the Church of Santa Agueda in Sotillo de la Ribera, Spain, was old and in need of fixing up, Science Alert reports. According to National Geographic, a team of preservationists were lifting the statue, Cristo del Miserere, onto a work bench when they realized there was something inside it. The team discovered the buttocks-portion of the statue was removable and concealed a document signed in 1777 by Joaquin Minguez, the chaplain of the Cathedral of the Burgo de Osma. "Although it is usual for many sculptures to be hollow, it is not so much to find handwritten documents inside," Science Alert quotes historian Efren Arroyo as saying. Over both sides of two pages of paper, Minguez describes life in Spain in the late-1700s. He talks about harvesting wheat, rye, barley, and oats and discusses the region's wine production, Gizmodo reports. He names malaria and typhoid fever as dangerous afflictions and notes that entertainment is provided by "cards, ball, bald, bar and other puerile games." He mentions the Spanish Inquisition and King Carlos III and praises Manuel Bal, sculptor of Cristo del Miserere, as a "natural scholar." According to the New York Post, Minguez's document even names popular bullfighters of the time. Arroyo says the document appears to be an early form of time capsule. It has been archived for preservation, but a copy of Minguez's writing has been reinserted into Jesus' behind for future generations. (A nightclub's time capsule caused an evacuation in New York City.)