Why does ancient stuff get buried?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Digging and excavating are bywords for archaeology. But why does history end up deep under our feet?

This question struck CrowdScience listener Sunil in an underground car park. Archaeological remains found during the car park’s construction were displayed in the subterranean stairwells, getting progressively older the deeper he went. How had these treasures become covered in so much soil over the centuries?

CrowdScience visits Lisbon, the capital of Portugal – and home to the above-mentioned multi-storey car park. The city has evidence of human habitation stretching back into prehistory, with remnants of successive civilisations embedded and jumbled up below today’s street level. Why did it all end up like this?

Human behaviour is one factor, but natural processes are at work too. Over at Butser Ancient Farm, an experimental archaeology site in the UK, we explore the myriad forces of nature that cover up – or expose - ancient buildings and artefacts over time.

Contributors:

Dr Mariana Nabais, University of Lisbon Carolina Grilo, Lisbon Museum of the Roman Theatre Dr Matt Pope, University College London

Presented by Marnie Chesterton, Produced by Cathy Edwards for the BBC World Service.

IMAGE: Getty Images

Transcript

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0:48.6	Find out more at the end of this
0:58.0	right, should we go and find treasures?
0:59.0	Okay, so we're going to find treasures. Okay, so we're going down the stairs.
1:02.0	Basically we have a 24-7 exhibition.
1:05.0	This is crowd science from the BBC World Service. I'm Marnie Chesterton and the
1:11.3	treasures I've come to look at are available 24 hours a day because
1:15.8	they're housed not in a museum but in a multi-story underground car park in Lisbon.
1:22.4	If you're digging in a city like Lisbon, you're most
1:26.5	definitely going to find a lot of archaeology because it's a city that has
1:31.0	been occupied by humans for thousands of years.
1:35.0	That's our car park slash museum tour guide,
	...

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