Most archeological finds have to be dug for. Where does the covering soil come from?

Question

I hope this question doesn't illustrate my stupidity.

Answer 1

Don't think of yourself as stupid............inquisitive is far better. At least you want to find out.

The answer varies from site to site.

Some sites have been continuously occupied and therefore get built over (there are ancient Roman ruins in the basements of London buildings).

Other sites will be buried due to a change in the course of a river, silting up or erosion on the coast. (the Sussex coast has good examples of this).

In desert areas, soil and/or sand will cover things over very rapidly (the Sphinx was buried to its neck when Napoleon arrived in Egypt).

Other sites will get covered in vegetation and the rotting plant matter and the decaying building fabric will collapse into an organic mass similar to topsoil (Angkor Wat would have ended up like this had it not been rediscovered).

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

This very much depends upon the location of the site. For example, in East Anglia it is still possible to find Roman coins laying about on the ground where they were dropped back in Roman times. These coins, of no real value in their day, were simply tossed away in the same way that people today drop a penny and no longer bother to pick it up.

In other areas the over fill of soil comes from reconstructions over the centuries. This is very much the case in the City of London where due to war damage and bombing, much of Roman London was exposed for the first time. Roman London is about thirty feet below the present levels. All the rubble of ages has been piled up on top, including the entire city which was burnt down in 1666 - the Great Fire of London.

Out in the country where there may be the site of a Roman Villa, quite often finds are no more deep than that of the plough. In the past this was often the way in which archeological finds were discovered.

Other arecheological finds are discovered when construction work begins on a site, especially in the ancient towns and cities of UK. Almost every large settlement in southern England has a Roman past. So too do major cities of the North, such as York.

In Israel nearly all the most recent finds have come about due entirely to reconstruction. Pull down a wall and presto below is a cave with whatever inside it.

The Dead Sea Scrolls for example were found by accident by an Arab shepeard boy looking for a lost sheep. Pure chance. If the boy had not gone looking for his lost sheep, the scrolls would probably never have been discovered.

Here in UK where we now have an army of treasure hunters new finds are constantly made. Most are medieval coins and old iron-work but occasionally something more important from the Bronze Age, Iron Age or the Roman period.

The hunt goes on.

Answer 3

In the case of Italy and Mediterranean sites, I've been told that winds blow Sahara sand across the Mediterranean and deposit it on European soils, completely covering sites over the centuries.

(It's fun to walk around Rome and realize that many "benches" people are sitting on outside are really the tops of pillars that haven't been uncovered yet.)

Answer 4

Time

Answer 5

Dust,dirt,decaying vegatation.I guess if it didn't get covered,erosion would have destroyed it.