question: Why all the archeological findings are deep down below? Where does the “new top” soil comes from in a functioning city, e.g Rome, Paris, etc?
comment: It's the other way around: Most archeological findings are below the ground because there, they are protected. Sites that are completely above ground are often worn by weather and vegetation or destroyed by humans. That's why some of the most valuable sites are graves and trash pits - stuff people intentionally bury in the ground. Also, when a house is destroyed, the part of it that is already below ground often survives. So what's left for archaeologists are the foundations of the buildings, often multiple layers of them as the city is rebuilt. A special case are places in dry areas where mud bricks were used. These naturally erode due to wind and rain, and periodically had to be rebuilt. These cities grew upwards on a hill made of eroded mud bricks and trash, the so called [Tell]( URL_0 )
passages: From 1998 to 2001, Christopher Prescott of the University of Oslo directed excavation of House 1, dated c. 550-525 BC, as well as the town dump and areas on the north slope of the acropolis. Excavations were extended to the west in 2002 by Christian Mühlenbock and Kristian Kristiansen from the university of Gothenburg. The new area revealed additional house complexes from the mid 6th century BC. The excavations were drawn to a close in 2006 but the results will soon been published in two major volumes.
   Proper investigation of the site was begun in 1976 by Alain-Pierre Zivie and the first excavations began in 1980. In 1986, the Mission Archéologique Française du Bubasteion (MAFB), was founded, which has overseen all investigations of the site since then.
  
  Section::::Feline necropolis.
   The City of London serves as an example, for urban excavations have been performed there since the late 1900s. These excavations, performed in populated areas of the city, revealed historical evidence of events unforeseen previously by historians. London sits on a tel, which preserves a layer of dark material, attributed to the burning of the city by Boudica in 60 AD. It was only by excavation of the urban areas that these revelations could be made, as the city has long since outgrown its borders after its rebuild, some years after the Boudican revolt.
   In 2008, deepening continued within the same area (10 x 10 m) and the Middle Bronze Age layer was reached, the goal being the identification of residential structures from that horizon.
  
  Section::::Location.:Pecica.:Findings.
   Following the results of the initial evaluation, PPG 16 offered two solutions for preserving any significant archaeological deposits found to be on a development site. The first, and explicitly preferred, method involves preservation "in situ" whereby the archaeology is left untouched beneath a new development through methods such as adaptation of foundation design and architectural layout of the proposed new development, or by raising the level of the development with made ground so that its foundations do not reach the archaeological horizon. Where nationally important remains are encountered this method of preservation is strongly preferred.
   The first excavations of the site were made by Charles Warren in 1868. Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger excavated Tell es-Sultan and Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq between 1907 and 1909, and in 1911, and John Garstang excavated between 1930 and 1936. Extensive investigations using more modern techniques were made by Kathleen Kenyon between 1952 and 1958. Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolò Marchetti conducted excavations in 1997–2000. Since 2009 the Italian-Palestinian archaeological project of excavation and restoration was resumed by Rome "La Sapienza" University and Palestinian MOTA-DACH under the direction of Lorenzo Nigro and Hamdan Taha, and Jehad Yasine since 2015. The Italian-Palestinian Expedition carried out 13 seasons in 20 years (1997–2017), with some major discoveries, like Tower A1 in the Middle Bronze Age southern Lower Town and Palace G on the eastern flanks of the Spring Hill overlooking the Spring of 'Ain es-Sultan dating from Early Bronze III.
   Analysis of all of the previous types of botanical remains is typically completed by specialists that study paleoethnobotany. Paleoethnobotanists examine various types of archaeological evidence to study relationships between people and plants. These specialists not only study how and why people used plants, but also ways in which uses change over time and space.
  
  Section::::Organic remains.:Sediment analysis.
   Another artisanal neighborhood has been found in the region of one of the summits of the site, at the Rock of the Wyvern, an area which had been little investigated at the time of Bulliot and Déchelette's research. This neighborhood will be the object of future excavations which will attempt to determine the function of the neighborhood.
  
  Section::::Organization.:Housing.
   Section::::Excavations and remains.
   Excavations continued in 2016 and 2017. In the course of the 2016 excavation, discoveries were made that suggested "the elements of an urban system" existing before the Roman invasion, according to Russell. The 2017 dig targeted a putative Iron Age farmstead.
  
  Nine crouched burials, thought to date from the Iron Age, that were discovered during the excavation were sent to Bournemouth University for analysis.
  
  Section::::Animal burials.
   Section::::Excavations by Brian Hope-Taylor.:Summary – the present state of knowledge.
   In 2005 on the lower part of a Native American garbage dump, excavations have uncovered a new dump containing large amounts of archaeological material: food waste, ceramics, stone tools and shell tools, ornaments, charcoal and a tomb.
  
  Section::::History.:Birth of the town of Basse-Terre (1635-1649).
   Excavation initially involves the removal of any topsoil overburden by machine. This material may be examined by metal detector for stray finds but unless the site has remained untouched since its abandonment there is invariably a layer of modern material on the surface of limited archaeological interest. In rural areas, any features are often visible beneath the surface as opposed to urban areas where there may be thick layers of human deposits and only the uppermost contexts will be initially visible and definable through isolation from other contexts. A strategy for sampling the contexts and features is formulated which may involve total excavation of each feature or only portions. It is preferred goal of excavation to remove all archaeological deposits and features in the reverse order they were created and construct a Harris matrix as a chronological record or "sequence" of the site. This Harris matrix is used for interpretation and combining contexts into ever larger units of understanding. This stratigraphic removal of the site is crucial for understanding the chronology of events on site. It is perhaps easier to think of this as "archaeological deposits should leave the site in the reverse order they arrived". A grid is usually set up, dividing the site into 5 m squares to better aid the positioning of the features and contexts on the overall site plan. This grid is usually tied into a national geomatic database such as the Ordnance Survey in the UK. In urban archaeology this grid becomes invaluable for implementing single context recording.
   Section::::Archaeological investigation.:The Soknopaiou Nesos Project.
  
  Since 2004 the Soknopaiou Nesos Project of the University of Salento (Centro di Studi Papirologici) has been working in Soknopaiou Nesos under the direction of and .br
  
  Beside the archaeological excavations, mainly carried out inside the "temenos", the team surveyed the settlement and the surroundings. Evidence of pre-Ptolemaic buildings were found below the temple, as well as to the North and West of the "kom". On the shores of a palaeo-lake several areas with pottery clusters of the 19th and the 26th dynasties have been documented.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Sobek
  
  BULLET::::- Egyptian temple
   By taking into account known disturbances to the ground certain areas can be presumed to have limited archaeological potential. A survey of buildings identifying which have basements in them for example may suggest that certain streets have had all their archaeology removed (or truncated) in the past.
  
  Where buildings stand on top of probable or known archaeology the effect that their foundations and floors have on ground water levels may also be important in the degree of preservation that can be expected.
   Since 2005 the investigations were resumed at the site after a significant grant was obtained from the National Science Foundation (USA), following a project by Arad Museum Complex in partnership with Museum of Banat and University of Michigan. The research objectives included deepening the dig to the sterile areas excavated in the previous campaign and further site study. A detailed topographic map of the tell neighborhoods has also been created. The team included: George Pascu Hurezan - Scientific Lead (Arad Museum Complex), Florin Drașovean, Alexandru Szentmiklosi (Museum of Banat), John M. O'Shea, Sarah Sherwood (University of Michigan), Alex W. Barker (University of Missouri).
   From 2000 onwards the Potenza Valley Survey Project, a project of Ghent University directed by Frank Vermeulen, attempts to map all buried structures of the ancient town. The survey methodology involves a series of aerial photography operations, large-scale geophysical prospections and intensive artefact surveys and studies. Due to all this new information it is now possible to map most parts of the town’s infrastructure in detail.
   Section::::Modern excavations.
   Archaeological survey of the surrounding area was undertaken by Michael Kolb of Northern Illinois University beginning in 1998 and revealed a rich settlement system dating from the Copper Age to the medieval period, many of the sites being reoccupied over time. Kolb has also excavated at nearing Salemi, recovering finds that document the presence of residual 6th century BC activity and 4th–3rd century BC settlement, lending credence to the idea that Salemi is the ancient city of Halyciae of the Elymians.
   After the first excavations in 1841 and 1853, soundings at the location of the "castrum" at the St. Arbogast church and in the immediate vicinity have been done in 1934. On occasion of the rebuilding of the parish house Oberwinterthur, a rescue excavation was carried out from 1949 to 1951. In 1957/59 followed excavations and research and in 1960 further excavations. On the Roman road on the northeastern end of the "Vicus" excavations were carried out in 1967/69, and in 1976 at the St. Arbogast church, and from 1977 to 1982 on the lower western district ("Unterer Bühl") of the settlement. Between 1979 and 2010 all construction projects were monitored in the area of the Roman Vicus, and over 50 rescue excavations were carried out; especially in 2002 at "Bätmur Flur" the aerchologists explored an early to high medieval settlement area (7th to 12th century AD), and from 2006 to 2009 at "Kastellweg". In the area of the Vicus settlement remains of the European Neolithic, the early and late Bronze Age and grave remains of the Middle Bronze Age and the early Iron Age were uncovered. Rescue excavations were executed in late summer 2015, discovering the foundation holes of seven pit-houses from the 6th century in "Hegmatten". Individual finds include glass beads and knife blades, but also various Roman coins, two Roman finger rings and parts of several Roman fibulae. The excavations of 2015 were continued in spring 2016.
   The investigation of the periods preceding Monte Albán's founding was a major focus of the Prehistory and Human Ecology Project started by Kent Flannery of the University of Michigan in the late 1960s. Over the following two decades this project documented the development of socio-political complexity in the valley from the earliest Archaic period (ca. 8000-2000 BCE) to the Rosario phase (700-500 BCE) immediately preceding Monte Albán, thus setting the stage for an understanding of the latter's founding and developmental trajectory. In this context, among the major accomplishments of Flannery's work in Oaxaca are his extensive excavations at the important formative center of San José Mogote in the Etla branch of the valley, a project co-directed with Joyce Marcus of the University of Michigan.
   From 1996–99 the large area to the north-west of the site was excavated and exposed, including part of the Villa of the Papyri, the north-west baths, the House of the Dionysian Reliefs and a large collapsed monument. This area was left in a chaotic state and from 2000–7 further work on conservation of this area was done.
  
  Many public and private buildings, including the forum complex, are yet to be excavated.
  
  Section::::The Site.
   Section::::History of excavations.
   Those, who cared for the site, stopped publishing papers, because they realized that new discoveries generated a new flow of collectors to the site. The most pro conservation scientists finally decided to stop further excavations, until everything already exposed was sheltered (Tasnádi, 1976).
   Section::::Key excavations.
  
raw_presuppositions: All archeological finds are in deep ground.
raw_corrections: Finds that could be in higher ground are not protected and get worn away or destroyed. 