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Why are so many poems by Archilochus known only through fragments?

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Map showing the chief cities of Ancient Greece and surrounding regions, including locations such as Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Delphi, Thebes, Troy, Olympia, Syracuse, and Ephesus, along with notable islands and mountain ranges in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. — Greek literature A map shows the major regions and cities of ancient Greece.

The poems of Archilochus survive only in fragments primarily because the vast majority of ancient Greek literature has been lost over time.1

The survival of such works depended heavily on continuous copying by successive generations, a process often driven by a work's widespread popularity or its inclusion in school curricula. Because no original manuscripts written by ancient authors exist, the earliest copies we possess often date from centuries after the work's initial composition.1

In the case of lyric poetry, the loss was particularly extensive; historical records indicate that the total volume of Greek literature was far greater than what remains today. While centers of textual criticism and libraries—such as those in Alexandria—attempted to preserve important texts, many collections were eventually destroyed. Consequently, much of what we know of Archilochus’s work comes from scattered papyrus discoveries and citations by later writers, rather than complete, preserved manuscripts.12