Why are Roman ruins found below ground level?
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A lot of the “mounds” we have today are man built, it’s far easier to tear a few walls and fill up the rest than to completely demolish a building and remove the rubbish.
So many cities have been built upwards, even in modern times the average street level of large cities have increased, this is in many cases how we got “lower ground floors” in many cities where those ground floors used to be at or about the street level, but when modern infrastructure such as more plumbing, gas, electricity and roads that can support trucks and busses rather than just horses and carriages were required we have to build up.
In Rome it’s because the River Tiber used to flood the city on a regular basis. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the aftermath of a flood but they tend to leave behind a whole load of debris, mud and rubbish. Now imagine this happening every few years for centuries.
It’s underground now, but that was their ground level when they built it.
Ground level rises. Out in nature, where the wind carried dirt particles over long distances, it rises by a couple centimeters per century.
In cities, where you need to dig out a giant hole for any construction project, not to mention in ancient times there was no plumbing or garbage collection, only a giant hole you dug in the backyard, it rose waaaay more.
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