Mysterious time capsule opened after almost 200 years

School officials predicted the lead box contained artefacts from the 1820s

What type of things would you expect to find in a time capsule? Messages? Pictures or maybe even newspaper?

How about... nothing?

Well, that is exactly what an archaeologist thought he had found when one was opened at a ceremony at the West Point US military academy.

Paul Hudson looked into the lead box from the 1820s in front of a room of cadets and a livestream audience, but it appeared to contain nothing but mud!

Luckily after further examination, six medals and a medal were discovered amongst the dirt.

What happened?

West Point US military academy is a famous school in the US where generations of soldiers, generals and leaders have been trained, so people were expecting something good.

After the hopes of a big discovery were dashed, Paul Hudson wasn't put off and he used a wooden pick and a brush to carefully search the mud inside the box.

"Before long, lo and behold, there's the edge of a coin sticking out," he said. "And I thought, well that's OK. That's something, that's a start."

The coins dated from 1795 to 1828, with values between one cent up to one dollar.

The medal that was also found celebrated the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 - which connected the Hudson River in New York to the Great Lakes.

The lead box was opened by employees from the school

The box had been found a few months earlier while work was taking place to restore a bronze statue of war hero Thaddeus Kosciuszko.

It was found underneath the marble face of the monument, which was thought to have been placed there when the statue was completed in 1829.