archaeology

[boobesque]

why is it that when someone finds an amazing archaeological site that it is always underground? is there a group of people who go round every few hundred years and burry things of significance? roman villas for example. there was one found in kent by a farmer who was driving fence posts into the ground. where did this covering soil come from?

[Clanad]

Although some things are undoubtedly buried on purpose, many other items, large and small, found in an arcaeological dig have been buried naturally. Some in dramatic fashion, such as by vocanic ash, earthquakes, wind driven sand and dirt, slumping or sloughing of nearby higher terrain, etc. But, just the natural day by day accumuation of dust, dirt, grass and weeds will, over the eons, cover up the signs of every day life. Think about what your house looks like if you fail to dust for a few weeks. Additionally, abandoned buildings eventually collapse in on themselves and become flattened making it all the more simple to be covered...

[qapmoc]

One other point is that with humans being the way they are there is not much chance of anything usefull surviving on the surface for long if it is visible and could be used for something somewhere.