Sacumula

Sacumula is a fictional concept used in speculative fiction to denote a universal archival system that records and stores the accumulated memory of civilizations. The term blends sacred origins with the idea of accumulation, and authors typically treat the Sacumula as a vast, distributed repository that links artifacts, languages, and experiences across space and time. In most depictions, access to the Sacumula is mediated by custodians or autonomous algorithms that translate stored data into retrievable narratives.

In-universe design features commonly described include distributed storage across multiple habitats or planets, cryptographic indexing, and multi-sensory recording that captures not only documents but social practices, rituals, and oral histories. Some authors portray the Sacumula as almost conscious, capable of suggesting connections between disparate cultures or predicting cultural trajectories by analyzing accumulated memory.

The trope is often used to explore themes such as cultural memory, data sovereignty, archival ethics, and the tension between preservation and censorship. Critics note that depictions of a Sacumula can reflect real-world anxieties about surveillance, ownership of information, and the fragility of memory in the digital age.

Because sacumula is fictional, it has no formal taxonomic or legal status outside the cited works. See also cultural memory, archives, memory studies.