Comment by RetroTechie
5 hours ago
If they're so common, why not incorporate into the construction project?
Walk through a modern subway, see bits & pieces of ancient history all over the place. Buy icecream, sit on a bench that labourers hacked out of stone 2ky ago.
Because it's more expensive and takes longer (which then makes it even more expensive).
Which is why ancient ruins in construction sites are often covered up, unreported, or even destroyed.
That's actually done a lot in ruin-heavy cities. For instance, here's a Lidl with bonus underfloor Viking village in Dublin: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/aungier-street-lidl-arch...
I visited Athens in 2006 shortly after the Olympics were held there and the city had been refreshed. The Syntagma Square subway station did exactly this, with layers of archaeology revealed behind glass as you descended the stairs. It was magnificent!
They do do that? https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260408-a-150-metro-tick...
Reminds me that story about the beach table in Bulgaria, that turned out to be a 1,700-year-old Roman tomb: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article2...
I mean, it's the rest of the subway line thats the problem -- how many ancient sites do you tunnel through to reach the next stop?