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
I have a related story that helps explain this.
My region experienced significant flooding and mudslides in 1996. I was at the local pub a couple years ago, and I struck up a conversation with a couple who had recently moved to the area. They excitedly described an “old, abandoned cellar” that they had found at the base of the hill behind their new modular home, and told me of their plans to dig out the accumulated mud and debris in the bottom of the old cellar so they could build a small barn for their goats, while using the cellar as a root cellar, since it was almost entirely underground. I was able to inform them that their newly-discovered “cellar” was actually the main floor of the old stone house that had originally occupied their property and was engulfed by a mudslide some 20 years ago, and that they would discover the original basement if they dug down far enough. I’m glad I was able to explain the actual situation to them, because when they started digging the mud out, the original wood floor collapsed into the underlying basement. Since they were aware of the danger, they avoided injury by not allowing anyone to enter the excavation while digging the accumulated mud and debris out with a small excavator.
Unfortunately, they never did anything with the structure because it was so deeply buried that it always had several feet of standing water in it after being excavated. They ended up filling it with several dump truck loads of rubble to avoid the danger of having an open pit 16′ deep in their pasture.
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