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Ancient and Archaeology  permalink

Layers??

• Message 1. 

  Posted by Ceilteach_Kitten (U6750508) on Tuesday, 4th December 2007

  Apologies if this thread already exists somewhere but I'd like to ask how archaeology often ends up so far below modern street level? I appreciate that dirt and human muck, detritus and deoltion all play a part but this doesn't explain why in other countries archaeological remains can be found at the surface. Is Britain a special case?
  Cheers!

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Ceilteach_Kitten (U6750508) on Tuesday, 4th December 2007

  must check spelling! Message should read "demolition" rubble.

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Tuesday, 4th December 2007

  Hi Ceilteach_Kitten,
  
  Someone asked a similar question ages ago. It ended up buried under lots and lots of posts and threads, but I've manged to excavate it so...
  
  why does everything seem to be buried?
  
  
  A regular poster called TwinProbe gave a great answer and he/she'll probably reply to this thread as well if you're lucky.
  
  Cheers,
  
  
  RF

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by TwinProbe (U4077936) on Tuesday, 4th December 2007

  Hi C_K,
  
  This topic has cropped up a couple of times in the last year but it is interesting and puzzling at first sight. Deeply buried archaeological remains are not restricted to Britain but are usually, but not always, a phenomenon of urban sites. In hilly areas of Britain there are plenty of Roman sites (or stone circles) just below the plough-soil or even above it, whereas in York or London(for example) they are deeply buried.
  
  Clearly the soil in York has been artificially raised by 2000 years of building and the importing of vast amounts of organic material into the city. York isn't famous for its pre-Roman finds but any present would not be much deeper than the Roman since in the pre-historic period the area was only sparsely inhabited and the processes that led to soil deepening were not taking place.
  
  Clearly some natural processes, like the action of rivers, floods, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions can cause the deposition of huge amounts of material in very short times. Skara Brae on Orkney was covered up by a sand-blow in the Neolithic and then uncovered again by wind action in the 19th century.
  
  Finally, and less dramatically, farming hilly ground tends to move soil from the hillsides to the valley bottoms which can deeply cover archaeological remains on the low ground.
  
  Best wishes,
  
  TP

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• Message 5

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  Posted by priscilla (U1793779) on Wednesday, 5th December 2007

  Yet TP, things somehow also reach the surface. As a child, I found pieces of chain mail in our garden - very close to the surface. Roman pots have been found in a site in our town yet the eventual dig was 3' down at least. A grubby Victorian china ornament also suddenly came up through our lawn after a drought.
  I have also seen on a Time Team jolly in Greece, I think, where they had little success in those endless trenches a surface troll produced a few 'clues' used to support a dicey supposition. It's a fascinating subject.
  Regards P.
  

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• Message 6

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  Posted by TwinProbe (U4077936) on Wednesday, 5th December 2007

  Hi Caro,
  
  Old artefacts may certainly reach the surface by means of various disturbances, there is even a technical term for it 'residuality'. Regular plough can keep artefacts churning over as the soil surface deepens. The digging out of wells, latrines and Victorian cellers are champions for bringing old material up to the contemporary surface. Cherished artefacts may be looked after for centuries (curation) before their remains are lost. Finally burrowing animals (like moles and rabbits) can bring stuff up, just as worm actions can cause material to sink into deeper layers.
  
  Best wishes,
  
  TP

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• Message 7

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  Posted by islanddawn (U7379884) on Wednesday, 5th December 2007

  I'm sorry I missed the Time Team in Greece, it is unfortunate that we don't get it here anymore. I'm also surprised they didn't find anything on their dig, as bits and pieces are always coming to light here. A couple of years ago a farmer's plough bought up a solid gold crown! Not to mention what was unearthed during the construction of the Athens metro, Syntagma Station has one wall in glass so you can see a fascinating cross section of the different levels of construction in Athens through the millenia. Although the metro is a bit deeper than the Time Team would have gone!
  
  TG

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• Message 8

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  Posted by Grumpyarchmonkey (U10592661) on Wednesday, 5th December 2007

  How far things are buried depends on many things, most of them have been outlined already. But a major factor is local environment, this mostly helps explain why things seem closer to the surface in some other countries. So for example, in warmer countries, as a rule things are closer to the surface because the soil doesnt bind, because its not wet and therefore moves more easily. Add to that, many sites in Greece or Turkey or the Near East are mounds, where settlement has been long term, the mounds get eroded quite easily, a dig I was at in Greece had Neolithic (circa 5500BC)stuff just a few centimetres below the surface. It was a low mound in an olive grove, which in itself was a few hundred years old, so no later building had taken place.
  There is caveat to be taken into account too and the Time Team is a timely reminder of this, they usually dig with a certain time period as an aim, with a very short time to do it. There could be a case that they dont show the archaeology above what the target period is, as part of what they broadcast(hopefully they do record it though).
  Anyway, the answer to the question is that 'layers' and depth, depend on hundreds of parameters, most of which are differentially appliable according to geograhical location
  
  Hope I havent complicated things

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