How long would it survive as a monolith on the surface before it would appear to be another boulder? How long until it is illegible due to micrometorite abrasions?
The “2001” monolith was heavily implied to have been explicitly buried. It was detected first as a magnetic anomaly, and when touched while exposed to sunlight it emit an enormous RF burst.
In other words, it was specifically protected from the elements, in a way intended to be detected only by a species at a certain minimum level of technological development.
In other words, it was specifically protected from the elements, in a way intended to be detected only by a species at a certain minimum level of technological development.