Archeology: why are fossils and buildings found underground?

Question

Does the land rise? I guess it must, but how quickly and why?

Answer 1

The land doesn't "rise" but over eons, dirt settles over fossils, relics, and the like. Unless you are referring to things found under volcanic debris ( such as Pompeii) that's because the lava flowed over the city and burried it. Some things that are found were burried by ancient people, becasue it was trash or a graveyard.

Answer 2

Worms Earthquakes Volcanoes Tsunammi`s General Flooding
Land Slippage all conspire to seal and conceal the past
and Yes Land Rises We Have a Raised Beach at Gallanach Argyll
AlsoThe North and West of Scotland is Rising and The East South
East and England in general is Sinking Accelerated By Global Warming and Melting of The Artic Icecap

Answer 3

Think of it this way...when you make a trifle, you start off by putting in the bottom bit. Over time, you put in the other bits on top of this, making a big layered puddingy thing. The landscape is similar, if a little less tasty; Imagine that all the layers are created by things happening instead of being put there; plants can die and fall on the ground, people can dump things and so on. Fossils and buildings are like the strawberries in the trifle; they're put down on the surface, but get covered up by things over time.

Answer 4

Land doesn't rise as such, but stuff dies and decays on top and the level goes up..not quite the same as the "land rising"

If a leave falls, it can't get under the ruin to decay, it lies on top.

I'm always suprised when we dig on our farm. So far i've found 2 cottages ( 14C we think )and a limstone water course ( 2C we think ). If we could scrape 10 feet off the country it would be a much more interesting place.

Answer 5

If you go back to truly ancient times you will also have cases of cities built right over top each other. When the city was destroyed they would just rebuild over it. Mind you this was a desert area and sandstorms would rather quickly cover up the old cities but it is another reason WHY they are like that.

Answer 6

the land dosen't rise. over the years dirt and other stuff covers up the fossils and towns so that after many hundreds of thousands of years they are compleatly covered by the ground and casn only be found by digging

Answer 7

Vegetation dies, falls to the earth and gradually decomposes. It forms earth and more things grown on top of it. Old buildings collapse or are demolished, leaves and grass drift in and die and form more earth and gradually the ruins disappear under it.

Answer 8

I was gonna be an archeologist once , but i did'nt want to end up in ruin's !