![]() NPS photo Digging Into the Past
Archeological excavations can reveal a lot of information about a site and the people that lived there, or things that happened there. Unfortunately, while we can learn a lot from digging, doing so destroys the site which is why monitoring and preservation is our first choice. As a result, excavations in the park are only done on a need basis. Park archeologists preserve what they can to the best of their abilities so that future generations will have the information that would have otherwise been lost.
![]() When to Excavate? Archeologists might dig if there was evidence that an area had been looted, or was at risk from a natural destructive process like erosion. While excavating "ruins" these sites, it does enable us to learn what we can from them before they disappear on their own. |
Last updated: January 12, 2016