The impact of raindrops on the loose soil tends to transfer fine clay particles into the tiniest soil spaces, sealing them and producing a surface that allows very little water penetration.
I grew up in a village, a poor and closed-off world barren of cultural and entertainment life. 90% of my early education was from my father, from his words and deeds.
But that "other world" is well concealed from man, that dehumanised, inhuman world, which is a celestial naught; and the bowels of existence do not speak unto man, except as man.
Very often such statues were enclosed in rectangular shrines or wall niches whose only opening was at the front, making it natural for the statue to display frontality.
If a stable column of mud has been set up in the well, keeping the oil at bay through its sheer weight, the next step would be to set cement in the well and seal it off permanently.
The timbers that closed the recovered end of the boat had been removed in antiquity when it was abandoned, but much about its original shape could be deduced.