more scott adams

[phantom_child]

no, seriously... I wonder about this too.What is up with these buried cities that archeologists keep discovering? I’m trying to figure out how a city gets buried unless a volcano is nearby. In my house, for example, when the crumbs on the kitchen floor reach ankle height, I start thinking about sweeping. Call me a neat freak if you must, but I

Comments

[thatsthestuff]

water levels are an indicator...its not that they get buried so to speak but ancient landmarks move due to different factors. Troy was rebuilt like 12 times each level on an existing city before it. And then when it annually flooded...like the Nile,the sediment just gradually built up and over the uninhabited city. Voila! unknown buried city!

[living_harmony]

also, cities are built upon cities upon cities. if you look at the holy land, for example in jerusalem there are "tols" which look like mounds upon which the city is built. this usually started as ground-level, and as the city gets older in each successive generation, they build upon the old level. or if a disaster makes them leave a city, often later people rediscover it and build on top of the old city (probably in a good location).

so, discovering buried cities is pretty common because there were only so many places which were good locations in the old world. if it had water, arable land, and defensible position, it was a prime place to live. but if all of a sudden your water source disappears, you have to leave. and then your city gets buried.

[europeanjeff]

scary that people know these things. I would have been happy just to let the joke go... =/

[living_harmony]

it was a joke....oops. and people don't actually know these things, it's just that i took a class on syr-palestinian archaeology. so know i know about buried cities, and how to spell 'archaeology'. sweet.

[drivingnowhere]

Science isn't scary.