Why is Roman stuff buried, & Neolithic stuff not?

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suave harv S
suave harv Oct 18, 2017 11:33:37

I went to Wroxeter Roman City the other week. The portion that was excavated was under about three foot of dirt before excavation. I asked the guy from English Heritage why it got buried and he said "over time, dirt get blown over the remains, and foliage de-composes, and all kinds of things happen". Which is fair enough, but stone circles are loads older than Wroxeter, and they're not under three foot of dirt are they?

When you go to Wroxeter, there's some pillars that were the entrance to the town square. They're a good four feet below the surface of the field, in a trench. So does that mean there's Neolithic remains buried like that as well?

I can't get my head around the fact that several feet of soil would accumulate over something 2,000 years old, yet there's hundreds of stone circles twice as old still 'as they were',

C common era
common era Oct 18, 2017 11:56:30
Replying to suave harv

I remember reading somewhere about how Callanish was only just poking above the peat until it was fully excavated (in the 19th Century maybe, or even later?) so it does happen. There's also quite a few cases in the Peak District of monuments being rediscovered when peat cutting has taken place, or heather burning. But your question is a good one, to which I have no useful answer. Bloody useless me.

T tjj
tjj Oct 18, 2017 20:55:02
Replying to suave harv

suave harv wrote:
I went to Wroxeter Roman City the other week. The portion that was excavated was under about three foot of dirt before excavation. I asked the guy from English Heritage why it got buried and he said "over time, dirt get blown over the remains, and foliage de-composes, and all kinds of things happen". Which is fair enough, but stone circles are loads older than Wroxeter, and they're not under three foot of dirt are they?

When you go to Wroxeter, there's some pillars that were the entrance to the town square. They're a good four feet below the surface of the field, in a trench. So does that mean there's Neolithic remains buried like that as well?

I can't get my head around the fact that several feet of soil would accumulate over something 2,000 years old, yet there's hundreds of stone circles twice as old still 'as they were',

It is an interesting question? When the Romans finally left Britain, to be replaced by Saxons I understand the Saxons did not want to occupy the places where Romans lived preferring to build their settlements from wood, so they were left to the elements. There are plenty of prehistoric monuments which were buried though - such as the many rock art panels around Kilmartin in Scotland and in Northumbria. I believe there are still some buried sarsen stones at Avebury which certain archaeologists would love to excavate if they could obtain permission.