How come ancient artifacts & findings have to be digged up?

Question

I know this question sounds pretty dumb at first look, but my question is this. Take Greece for example: When digging a tunnel for a subway system in Athens they uncovered an abundance of ancient Greek artifacts. They are now building another subway in Thessalonica (see link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060727/ap_on_re_eu/antiquities_subway_1) and they say that they are digging approximately 65 feet below ground which avoids the 30-40 feet below where they expect ancient ruins and artifacts to be located. What has caused the 30-40 feet of buildup above what was considered level then? That much dust flying around?

Answer 1

Well, think of floods and thunderstorms that have taken place between the time of Classical Greece and modern day today. Mother Nature has not been stable. There have been fires, tornadoes, rains, earthquakes, and overall just time and development. We have built on top of ruins because we never really looked for them at all when infrastructure began centuries ago. Think of a construction site and how easy it is to move dirt, to level hills, etc. and apply it to hundreds and hundreds of years. It would be hard to believe if those ruins didn't end up buried deep below ground.

Answer 2

First of all, not all "ancient artifacts" are so burried. The problem with such surface objects are two fold. Ancient civilizations were relatively efficeint with respect to building materials. Stone from older constructions were reused in later constructions, as evidenced in temples and tombs in Egypt and the Middle East. Also, in recent times, when artifacts were found in the open, they were quickly snapped up by ligitimate and outlaw collectors.

Secondly, the reasons for "artifacts" becoming burried are also varied. Natural disasters, such as volcanoes and floods, tend to cover over such objects very quickly. When an area is abandoned over a long term, such as areas in Egypt, then the landscape has plenty of time to reclaim the buildings and objects. Even the gigantic Sphinx statue on the Giza plateau was covered in sand so deep that only it's head was visable. Also, as noted, ancient societies were fond of reusing resources, including location. After a building fell in to disuse, or burned down, etc, a new building would just be put on top of the old one's foundation, including the middens (garbage pits), from which a wealth of information about how these people lived.

Finally, contrary to popular belief, several ancient cultures had quite a bit of experience in underground construction. The Roman Empire was well known for it's mining, and would often tunnel under mountains so deep and so thoroughly that the mountain would collapse to almost level ground by the time they were done. Jerusalem, Paris, and other cities throughout Europe and the Middle East have networks of underground passages used for supplies, defense, burrials, or sewage. Such tunnels also yield similar artifacts.

Answer 3

Ancient greece, or Thessalonia, are widely documented as warfaring empires. An intelligent civilization, they dug many fallout shelters to protect the cottage people from flaming arrows and the infamous atomic amphora. It turns out that the atomic amphora was invented in ancient Babylonia around the turn of the 10th century bce. But it wasn't until modern days that the Babylonians caught-on to digging holes in the ground and hiding.

Answer 4

well after many years pass and dust accumulates and volcanoes erupt and earthquakes occur and other types of weather and geologic occurrences happen, it tends to cover up things that just sit. After hundreds and hundreds of years pass, there is a significant amount of "debris" covering these items, which are later named "artifacts". Archeologist's have to dig under this natural debris to find these hidden artifacts to discover the history of todays world. I hope i answered your question.