How do these things get buried?

Question

You know how archeologists are always finding really old, like 2000 year old objects buried?

Well, how do they wind up buried? I mean, did the people back then bury them for some reason or is it like a nature thing?

I don't mean ancient skeletons but actual objects, like that 1,900 year old chariot they just found. How do they end up buried so deep?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I was about to ask the same thing....I mean, it is like did humans cease to exist for periods of time..is that how large civilizations are unearthed ? It baffles my mind too.

Answer 2

The other answers are all good, but they leave out a major cause.

Garbage. Ancient cities did not have garbage collection, the stuff just piled up outside (and inside). Cities actually became higher and higher as the years went by. Buildings were torn down or burned down and were built on a higher level. That repeats over and over again.

This mound is called a tell.

.

Answer 3

The first answer is a good start. There's also wind and rain dispersing dirt and other sediments. Also, the shifts in tectonic plates cause earth to shift up and down (how mountains and valleys are formed, for example), which causes dirt and sediment to be overturned. Things get buried over thousands and thousands of years.

Answer 4

Many natural calamities like the Tsunami happens. This answers to your "Q" automatically. Almost the surrounding earth covers a large portion with mud and water burying things to un imaginable levels.

Answer 5

Soil is made up largely of decomposed leaves and other organic debris.  Each year's leaves can add another thin layer of soil.  Over the course of hundreds or thousands of years this can add up to quite a bit of new soil.

Answer 6

In the case of the chariot, I believe that scientists will discover that the dogs that pulled the chariot in fact buried the chariot. Makes sense doesnt it?  

Answer 7

depends where they are found. if it is under water, sediment is deposited on top of it. the same thing happens above ground; the wind drops dust on it. not everything is buried though. remember for something to be buried 2000 years ago it is covered in 2000 year old dust that eroded away. so whatever is destroyed and turns to dust ends up burying what is left.

Answer 8

There are many different reasons other than human activity.

For example, natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic activity, floods can cause objects to be covered in mud/sand.

Also, some things could have fallen into a lake, which has since dried out, which will cover it in sediment.

There are many reasons why objects can be buried.