Abstract:Desiccation cracking is a typical deterioration in archeological sites in wet environments. To explore the correlation between the development degree of desiccation cracking and soil properties in the Sanxingdui sacrifice archeology site, we conduct soil property analysis and quantitative characterization of deterioration, adopt the Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) to calculate the correlation degree between the six relevant indicators of soil properties and the development degree and damage degree of desiccation cracking. This research aims to study the magnitude and mechanism of each indicator’s influence on the deterioration degree, and explore the feasibility of preventing and controlling deterioration by intervening in soil properties. The result shows that the correlation degree between soil properties and the desiccation cracking degree in descending order is as follows: clay particle content > clay mineral content > plasticity index > initial dry density > initial moisture content and organic matter content. The clay particle content, clay mineral content, and plasticity index are control indexes affecting the development of desiccation cracking, showing a positive correlation with it. The initial dry density, initial moisture content, and organic matter content are relevant indices, the smaller the initial dry density the more considerable the damage degree of desiccation cracking. Intervening in soil properties can only control the development of desiccation cracking to a certain extent; for example, increasing the initial dry density can change the morphology of desiccation cracking.