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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oracular Vision" data-source="post: 271224" data-attributes="member: 2265">Let's see here...need rate of rusting of iron...rate of accumulation of dust and refuse...rate of decomposition of skeletal remains...wood decomposition rates...Or did you want a guess?Corrosion is actually a very complex process...but let me simplify it and say that you lose one milli-inch per year of iron, so that would be 400 milli-inches lost, or .4 of an inch, almost a half an inch...it would be more in salt water or any water for that matter...armor would all be rusted away, but triangular spear-heads more than .5 inch would have remnants. You can find pictures of these in the better museums online...see this link for more...<a href="http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/MatSelect/corrsteel.htm" target="_blank">http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/MatSelect/corrsteel.htm</a>Dust and cometary accretion is at the rate of, roughly, 78,000 tons/yr, so that would be 400 times 78,000 tons, or more simply, in inches, about 2 meters every 1,000 years, leaving us with 40 % of 2 meters, or about 2.4 feet of cover over the remains...this might be less or more depending on wind/rain/erosion...see this link for more...<a href="http://www.expanding-earth.org/page_10.htm" target="_blank">http://www.expanding-earth.org/page_10.htm</a>skeletons would remain in the earth but would have been subject to predation by wild animals, so whole skeletons would be unlikely, and the pieces thereof would be covered by earth of course as above. I can find out how badly they decompose, but it would depend a lot on the wetness and type of soils. Lets assume that bones would remain, but not whole skeletons, and there would be a lot of decay.Wood is too open a subject, soft woods would rot and be eaten by termites and so on, while hard wood might last long enough to be buried, then to rot slowly if water is present, or dry out if it is dry, and be reasonably preserved.So, your typical spear-carrying guy in chain mail would be worn down to a few bones, a few pieces of wood, a rusty spearhead in bad shape, and maybe a few items in pouches that had rotted away, and be under about 2 and a half feet, more or less, of dirt...burials of course would have helped preserve personal effects, weapons,  and skeletons.Is that good enough?</blockquote>

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