Eli5 – Why are we finding entire homes and streets in archaeological digs? doesn’t anyone notice a street or building starting to get covered in dirt and dust? at some point someone must notice the old plato theatre is knee high into the earth?

Question

Eli5 – Why are we finding entire homes and streets in archaeological digs? doesn’t anyone notice a street or building starting to get covered in dirt and dust? at some point someone must notice the old plato theatre is knee high into the earth?

In: 2940

Answer 1

Cities settle and build up all at once. If you’re in a new country like the states it’s less obvious, but I’m in a European city about a thousand years old, and you commonly see old doorways in limestone walls where the road has risen so much over the centuries that less then half remains above ground level, sometimes even more. It happens slower than we perceive, but cities are always settling and building over.