>>63879291
Yeah, there is a whole, massive category of ancient Greek statues which we only know ever existed because later Roman marble copies of them were made-- when times got tough, or when certain places were sacked the originals were melted down, but the marble ones survived largely because they couldn't be as easily repurposed.
All those old buildings used as stone quarries etc.
Couple that with the fact that a lot of things which actually require a lot of labour and artistry to make, such as textiles, don't survive when buried for too long, a lot has just been lost to the sands of time.
its why fabric, wooden, and vellum finds are so rare and precious
its why archeology is so interesting to me personally, its like collecting a whole lot of little clues to try an solve the big mystery