An Archaeological Report Sent to the Underworld (2024) is the first case study within Dakota Guo’s ongoing research project, Tools for Speculative Archaeology (2023–present). The exhibition unfolds as a speculative restitution centered on zhènmùquàn (镇墓券), ancient Chinese funerary documents re-fabricated by the “speculative archaeologist” in the form of Taoist talismans.

A sequence of actions—drafting, breaking, molding, and arranging—reverses archaeological procedures while operating as a burial. A clay prototype is deliberately fractured, and the resulting molds are reorganized into gridded displays that resemble an excavation unit, where absence itself becomes what is returned.

Draft zhènmùquàn are attributed to anonymous ghosts and consulted through divination using jiǎobēi. When consent is indicated, a draft may be taken, marking a temporary accord between visitor and tomb owner.