How do ancient cities become buried?
jo...@forumbreak.com
Often times I see archaeologists on TV uncovering some ancient city ruins and layers seem stacked up like a layer cake. But how does this come to be?
Can someone explain?
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Jack Linthicum
They get covered with dirt
Joachim Pimiskern
> On Oct 3, 2:10 pm, j...@ForumBreak.com wrote:
>> How do ancient cities become buried?
Thanks to the worms. Charles Darwin started
an experiment - you may search for 'worm stone'.
Regards,
Joachim
Whiskers
1) It's easier to build on top of what was there before than to build
under it ;))
2) When stuff gets dropped, it tends to land on top of what's already
there.
Try leaving your garden or yard unswept and untouched for a few decades
and see what happens.
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers [not posting to any web forum]
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
jo...@fakeemail.com
I was asking simply because it seems like improbable given how deep we're sometimes finding these ruins to be.
Anyhow, thanks a lot.
Larry Caldwell
jo...@ForumBreak.com (jo...@ForumBreak.com) says...
> How do ancient cities become buried?
> Often times I see archaeologists on TV uncovering some ancient city ruins and layers seem stacked up like a layer cake. But how does this come to be?
> Can someone explain?
People haul in materials to build buildings The buildings fall down and
turn to rubble. People flatten out the rubble and haul in more material
to build buildings. Repeat for centuries and you have a pretty tall
mound. The layers aren't all that uniform, because people dig holes in
the rubble for foundations, graves, etc. and disturb the layers in some
places.
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For email, replace firstnamelastinitial
with my first name and last initial.
Eric Stevens
<firstnamel...@peaksky.com> wrote:
>In article <tcidnU0UZcwMDlrX...@giganews.com>,
>jo...@ForumBreak.com (jo...@ForumBreak.com) says...
>> How do ancient cities become buried?
>> Often times I see archaeologists on TV uncovering some ancient city ruins and layers seem stacked up like a layer cake. But how does this come to be?
>> Can someone explain?
>
>People haul in materials to build buildings The buildings fall down and
>turn to rubble. People flatten out the rubble and haul in more material
>to build buildings. Repeat for centuries and you have a pretty tall
>mound. The layers aren't all that uniform, because people dig holes in
>the rubble for foundations, graves, etc. and disturb the layers in some
>places.
Isn't it Edinburgh where what are now lower basement levels used to be
the ground floor of buildings?
Eric Stevens
jo...@fakeemail.com
Matt Giwer
> How do ancient cities become buried?
> Often times I see archaeologists on TV uncovering some ancient city ruins and layers seem stacked up like a layer cake. But how does this come to be?
> Can someone explain?
Many years ago while clearly the fall leaves away from the home foundation I
started working on the north side and noticed they were surprisingly deep.
Thinking back I realized I had not cleared them for at three years. They were
over a foot deep. Eventually they would have turned to soil. Abandon the house
for 300 years and I would expect a nice tel covering the house from this alone.
But as tel grew plants would grow in it. Roots would penetrate the house via
cracks. In probably much less than a century it would collapse from structural
damage making it faster to become covered.
Things do grow in dry places and in them dust blows directly onto buildings
and settles at the foundation with no need for the leaves to mulch to soil cycle.
It is quite amazing how quickly things start to fall apart without regular
maintenance.
--
The Holocaust is no worse then Iran having an atom bomb.
Israel says so.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 4191
http://www.giwersworld.org/israel/bombings.phtml a5
Sun Oct 4 00:12:02 EDT 2009
jo...@fakeemail.com
Whiskers
There are lots of old settlments where that sort of thing happens.
Edinburgh does have a remarkable example in "Mary King's Close", a
medieval street which was left partially intact when the Royal Exchange
was built on top in the 18th century and has now been opened to the public
as a tourist attraction.
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
LloydB
> On 2009-10-04, Eric Stevens <eric.stev...@sum.co.nz> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 14:34:53 -0700, Larry Caldwell
>
> >>In article <tcidnU0UZcwMDlrXnZ2dnUVZ_s2dn...@giganews.com>,
> >>j...@ForumBreak.com (j...@ForumBreak.com) says...
> >>> How do ancient cities become buried?
> >>> Often times I see archaeologists on TV uncovering some ancient city ruins and layers seem stacked up like a layer cake. But how does this come to be?
> >>> Can someone explain?
>
> >>People haul in materials to build buildings The buildings fall down and
> >>turn to rubble. People flatten out the rubble and haul in more material
> >>to build buildings. Repeat for centuries and you have a pretty tall
> >>mound. The layers aren't all that uniform, because people dig holes in
> >>the rubble for foundations, graves, etc. and disturb the layers in some
> >>places.
>
> > Isn't it Edinburgh where what are now lower basement levels used to be
> > the ground floor of buildings?
>
> There are lots of old settlments where that sort of thing happens.
> Edinburgh does have a remarkable example in "Mary King's Close", a
> medieval street which was left partially intact when the Royal Exchange
> was built on top in the 18th century and has now been opened to the public
> as a tourist attraction.
>
> --
> -- ^^^^^^^^^^
> -- Whiskers
> -- ~~~~~~~~~~
In the early 1990's I carried out a very amateur architectural study
of a large
house outside Edinburgh. It had historically been a boxy- looking
castle and
was converted in the early 1700's to a lower and more 'modern' mansion-
looking
building, with a brand new facade of rooms across the front.
The front of the castle 'box' had been razed, and the top (4th) floor
removed.
The rubble was used to raise the entire front exterior level 6 feet
higher than
the exterior level at the back. In the process, what had been the
ground floor
level of the building became the basement, and steps now provide
access to
the 'new' ground floor.
The process of filling and building on top continues in just about
every
urban renewal project, or following any substantial earthquake, etc.
Kendall K Down
jo...@ForumBreak.com wrote:
> How do ancient cities become buried?
> Often times I see archaeologists on TV uncovering some ancient city
> ruins and layers seem stacked up like a layer cake. But how does this
> come to be?
> Can someone explain?
There are many processes at work.
Buildings tend to trap wind-blown sand, so over time the city gets
buried.
Earthquakes, fires and enemy action all tended to leave a city in
ruins. Lacking heavy earth-moving equipment, the ancients just
levelled the ruins and built on top, therefore higher up than before.
There was no rubbish collection in ancient times and people just
dumped their rubbish in the street, thereby causing the street level
to rise. When it got high enough, rain water ran into the houses, so
the owners laid down a new, higher, floor. Eventually they had to
raise the roof. Excavations at Ur found this cycle repeated four or
five times before the house was demolished and rebuilt.
Someone mentioned earthworms, which do indeed bury ruined buildings.
(They're not so successful with inhabited buildings!) They both bring
earth to the surface, raising it, and also undermine the buildings,
causing them to sink.
Ken Down
--
================ ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIGGINGS ===============
| Australia's premier archaeological magazine |
| http://www.diggingsonline.com |
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roj
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"Kendall K Down" <webm...@diggingsonline.com> wrote in message
news:42a52fb75...@diggingsonline.com...
>
snip
> .......... Lacking heavy earth-moving equipment, the ancients just
> levelled the ruins and built on top, therefore higher up than before.
>
> There was no rubbish collection in ancient times and people just
> dumped their rubbish in the street, thereby causing the street level
> to rise. When it got high enough, rain water ran into the houses, so
> the owners laid down a new, higher, floor.
>
>
> --
> ================ ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIGGINGS ===============
> | Australia's premier archaeological magazine |
> | http://www.diggingsonline.com |
> ========================================================
You might like the fate of Oxford city's walls and moat.
Around 1250, when the walls were completed, the city was
said to be surrounded by both wall and moats on all sides.
Today, the castle moat - part of the original total moat -
sits at 60m above sea level. The site of the old North Gate
moat is now at 72m above sea level. One excavation a
longside that, went down 25'(~8m) before encountering
the old moat edge. Additionally, the lowest bastion arrow
slits are now no more than 2m above external ground level - n
ot the best height to keep a good pikeman from scewering
an archer within! The cite below refers. Some 10% of the
walls survive within New College grounds, open afternoons
in winter 1.30 - 4.30, else 10.30 - 4.30 summer. Visit/enjoy.
roj
http://www.headington.org.uk/oxon/city_wall/index.html
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