The Money Mustache Community
Other => Off Topic => Topic started by: Holyoak on July 05, 2017, 08:41:42 PM
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I love metal detecting, but often wonder how, say coins of not too many years old wind up several inches under the turf? One very common item I find, is whole soft drink cans. They are flattened, but still found 4 or so inches under the earth... How does this happen? Thanks.
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I think all of the leaves, grass clippings, etc. turn into compost and make more dirt. The freezing and thawing also shift things around. I have never metal detected but I often find something interesting (pieces of tools, pottery, etc.) when I dig in my garden.
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Dogs will bury anything given the chance.
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Or a person dug it down to get it out of sight. When talking about my garden in my previous house, we found a whole pile of car tires, typewriter, shoes, glass jars, asbestos plates when digging into the garden.
I guess wind can also do a lot with sand. Maybe it only moved to other places when the ground is dry.
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I used to be an archaeologist for the NPS! What you're referring to is Stratigraphy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratigraphy_(archaeology)
It's how we place artifacts in context, based on their depth and relationship to other structures underground. Basically, sedimentation occurs. This can be caused by different factors depending on where you live... leaves, sand, mud, dust, plant/animal decomposition, etc. It slowly builds up, "burying" surface objects over time.