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| 2. Excavation |
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| The process of excavation begins with a formal research design, for no investigation is undertaken without specific hypotheses to be tested, questions to be asked. Small-scale excavation may involve small test pits or vertical trenches designed to establish the stratigraphy of a site and the sequence of occupation. Larger-scale excavations often require exposing considerable horizontal areas, perhaps several farmers' huts, the foundations of a city wall, perhaps even an entire market precinct or a set of workers' cottages. | 1 |
| The same principles of excavation apply to all archaeological sites, however simple or complex: precise recording and testing of the hypotheses before a spade is placed in the ground, analysis of the sequence of events that occurred at the site, and lastly, reconstruction of how the site was formed. For example, many Near Eastern cities were occupied over thousands of years, gradually accumulating a large mound of occupation debris, known to archaeologists as a tell (Arabic for “small hill.”). Excavating such a city would involve not only recording the sequence of occupation, but the many factors that led to the buildup of the mound, everything from major fires that swept through closely packed buildings to a complex sequence of rebuilding events on a temple. | 2 |
| The process of excavation ends with the analysis of the finds from the dig and their publication as a permanent record of the research. Without such publication, the site is effectively destroyed. The archaeologist's report is a vital, and unique, archive of the prehistoric past. | 3 |
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