There are many reasons why things of value from antiquity are found today. Caches of coins, for example, are frequently recovered because someone long ago buried them in secret and for some reason never returned to claim them. Since no one knew where the money was, it stayed safe in the ground.

And even if its whereabouts are known, a trove of treasure can survive to our day. If, for instance, the treasures in the site were protected for some reason, especially during the period when there was some general knowledge that valuables had once been placed there—good examples of this are Tut's tomb and the royal cemetery at Ur, both of which were ceremonially guarded for a long time after their construction—and if, after that, enough time passed such that public awareness of the precious goods lying within had lapsed, then the wealth may be preserved. This applies, however, less often to spectacular discoveries like that of Tut's tomb than to more mundane finds like the jewelry and ornaments which have been recovered from countless ancient burials because for some reason they were overlooked by later looters and scavengers.

All in all, what is considered valuable is a relative matter, and many things which the ancients saw as "trash"—copies of letters, broken seals on contracts and wine bottles, and cheap figurines, all counterparts to modern garbage—these are "gold" to an archaeologist because, while they do not have intrinsic monetary value, their historical worth is incalculable.

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