Dig Into History – April 2019

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CALLIOPE/DR.DIG, 70 East Lake Street,

Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601

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email: [email protected]

TAKE A LOOK

AT THAT BRIDGE! IT’S

WHAT CAESAR BUILT FOR

HIS TROOPS TO CROSS THE

RHINE RIVER — ACCORDING

TO AN 1814 ILLUSTRATION! WANT TO KNOW MORE?

JUST ASK US HERE AT DIG!

France and Germany, is a wide, deep,
fast-moving river. To get his armies across,
Caesar had bridges built. He described
these bridges in great detail in his account
of the campaign. To support each, piles
were sunk into the riverbed using pile
drivers that involved raising a stone with a
winch in a pyramidal wooden frame and
then dropping it to pound the posts into
the riverbed. The pile driver acted like a
huge hammer. The piles were then
connected to form the length of the bridge.
Each bridge took just a few days to
construct and was an impressive feat of
engineering. Aware of the importance of
these passageways, Caesar had his troops
dismantle each after they had crossed. The
reason? He wanted to prevent enemy tribes
from using them and then attacking his
troops from the rear.

— Dr. Dig

Q

Do archaeologists ever

cover over sites that they

have dug up? If yes, why?

— Reesa, Web post

A

SOMETIMES ARCHAEOLOGICAL sites

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excavated. This procedure can help protect

standing structures from the elements. It

can also protect the trench walls from

eroding, thus preserving what is there for

future excavation. Another reason for

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Sometimes excavators uncover artifacts

and structures, but the digging season ends

before they can fully recover, label, and/or

assess what they have found. For this

reason, the trenches or tombs must be

covered over to keep robbers from digging

up the artifacts and selling them illegally.

— Calliope

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