Site and Artifact Preservation: Natural and Cultural Formation Processes

Introduction

One of the best-known archaeological sites in the world is Pompeii, a Roman town buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in CE 79. The disaster stopped daily life in its tracks, felling residents who were unable to escape and covering everything with a thick layer of ash. Millions of modern tourists visit Pompeii each year, now able to walk its streets, inspect its art (and graffiti), and peer into shops and homes. The casual observer might therefore imagine that most places of past human activity remain as they were in use, perhaps simply buried under a thick layer of dirt or volcanic ash. In this view, an archaeological site – much like the abandoned home described by Philip Larkin in his poem “Home Is So Sad” – “stays as it was left/Shaped to the comfort of the last to go.”

Of course, nothing stays exactly as it was left. All archaeological sites suffer the effects of time, climate, and organisms (including people). Organic materials at Pompeii that were not burnt...