Other forms: excavations
An excavation is the careful digging up of a buried site. An archaeological excavation, the excavation began, excavation records.
Archaeological excavation destroys what it examines, which is why recording is as important as digging — an unrecorded excavation is a site lost. Layers are removed in order, because depth carries the dating. In construction, excavation is simply digging out foundations. Note excavate; excavator, the machine; and that most excavation now happens ahead of building work rather than out of curiosity.
1nounexcavationThe careful digging up of a buried site.
“The excavation uncovered the remains of a Roman bath house beneath the car park.”
2nounfoundationsThe digging out of foundations.
“Excavation for the new office block left a huge hole in the middle of the street.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
excavation is a digging out.
Latin excavatio comes from excavare — ex- plus cavus, hollow, the same root as cave and cavity. Excavation is hollowing out, which describes both the trench and the archaeology.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱewh₁- — vault, hole
Latin
excavātiō — a hollowing out
English, today
excavation
Built from
From Latin excavātiō (“a hollowing out”), from excavō (“to hollow out”), from ex + cavō (“to hollow out”), from cavus (“hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European ḱewh₁- (“vault, hole”). Equivalent to excavate + -ion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA