Then I was AWAKE...
Who shook me awake? An archaeologist of course!
Archaeologists' jobs are to uncover the past, and the past is me!
I felt them coming for me, but it took a while because they can't just dig super deep at once and see what happens!
Sand is everywhere in Egypt, because Egypt is mostly desert.
However, the Nile, the longest river in Egypt, also brings a very rich mud called silt to the land.
Over time, the wind, as well as people on the land, covered me with sand, silt, other garbage, rocks, and more. It happened very slowly, but over the thousands of years, all of these layers really began to add up. Not all the layers are the same, because over time the place I was buried was used for different things. Because the layers aren't made up of the same things, archaeologists can tell between different layers, and know different layers represent different times in the past.
These layers create stratigraphy. Big word. I know. But, all it means is the layers that have formed above me over time. Take a look!
The different layers are really easy to see, right?
But, before they can get to me way on the bottom, they have to go through everything that's on top of me. I mean EVERYTHING. And unluckily for archaeologists, that pretty and clean stratigraphy up there isn't usually what they get. They get something more like this:
Why do they follow the layers? Why can't they just dig wherever they want to? Well, stratigraphy is based on the law of superposition, which says that when looking at layers of earth, a layer on top is older than the layers underneath. Makes sense right? Because in order for something to cover me, it had to be placed after I was there already!
Most of the time, humans, animals, and the weather can change the perfect layers, and cause some layers to go into others, as well as take away parts of layers. Those layers are called disturbed layers. This makes an archaeologist's job very hard, but nothing they can't handle! They just make sure they write down carefully what other artifacts are found around, which is called association, and if the layer was disturbed.
So, it took the archaeologists a long time to finally get to me. They had to go through every layer before me, collect any artifacts they found, and write down information about them. These things include color, decoration, shape, and what it is made out of!
But... finally... the archaeologists got to me! Go me, my layer wasn't disturbed! I wish it didn't take them so long... but hey I had already been buried for thousands of years, so would a couple more really matter?
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