Modelling water content and soil temperature in unsaturated urban deposits at Bryggen, Bergen

Abstract

As a result of a lowered groundwater level and increased access of atmospheric oxygen, the organic archaeological deposits at Bryggen in Bergen, Norway, are in places strongly threatened to decompose. Besides degradation of the protected archaeological deposits, another negative outcome of this is that numerous of the wooden houses built on these cultural deposits settle at alarming rates. Major efforts were and are necessary to counteract this process and to save the World Heritage Site.