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>> My guess is that for a city to have relatively well preserved ruins, it has to be completely abandoned due to some calamity. If a city is continuously occupi
by TuringNYC 5y ago
>> My guess is that for a city to have relatively well preserved ruins, it has to be completely abandoned due to some calamity. If a city is continuously occupied, old buildings get incrementally replaced by newer buildings, and very few old buildings get preserved.
The calamity could also be economic. It is heartbreaking to see cities in industrial towns hollowed out -- from what I understand due to a major factory closure. It has been some decades for these cities, so not quite "ancient ruins" but eventually they would turn into that I imagine. However, modern wood homes are unlikely to survive the ages of course.
- pratik661 5y agoSo in 4000 years, archeologists digging up the the Midwest will theorize that Ohio valley was the center of a vast industrial society. They will theorize that it may be linked to a settlement that was known in ancient times as the mythical city of "New York", which is referenced several times in ancient literature, of which no ruins have been found.
- matthewdgreen 5y agoA colleague’s son specializes in stripping old industrial sites that are no longer in use. They move into some abandoned part of the rust belt and systematically tear out every piece of scrap metal they can find. They’ve been pretty busy. I’m sure the concrete and brick stays behind, but the in situ lifespan of useful, durable materials is much shorter than you’d think.