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The Toynbee tiles—sometimes referred to as Toynbee plaques—are small, rectangular pieces of material, typically made from asphalt, linoleum, or composite substances, that have been embedded into city streets across North and South America, often appearing without warning in busy intersections or highly visible public spaces.

The earliest confirmed Toynbee tiles appeared in Philadelphia in the early 1980s. Over time, similar tiles began appearing in other major urban centers, including New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., as well as internationally in Buenos Aires.

Physically, the tiles are typically about the size of a license plate and constructed by embedding arranged letters into a base material that is then pressed into the road surface. The lettering itself is often made from cut linoleum or similar materials, carefully arranged in a mosaic-like fashion. Many tiles appear to have been installed by placing them on the street and allowing the pressure of passing vehicles and heat from the sun to gradually fuse them into the asphalt—an unusual and low-tech method that has nonetheless proven surprisingly durable.

What truly distinguishes the Toynbee tiles, however, are their messages. Most contain variations of a central phrase referencing the ideas of Arnold J. Toynbee, a 20th-century historian known for his analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations. A commonly recurring message reads along the lines of: “TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOViE ‘2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER.” This cryptic statement appears to link Toynbee’s philosophical ideas with the themes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick’s iconic science fiction film exploring evolution, consciousness, and humanity’s place in the universe.