EXCAVATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does excavation mean? 

• EXCAVATION (noun)
  The noun EXCAVATION has 4 senses:

1. the act of digging

2. the site of an archeological exploration

3. a hole in the ground made by excavating

4. the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth

  Familiarity information: EXCAVATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXCAVATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of digging

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dig; digging; excavation

Context example:

there's an interesting excavation going on near Princeton

Hypernyms ("excavation" is a kind of...):

creating by removal (the act of creating by removing something)

Derivation:

excavate (find by digging in the ground)

excavate (recover through digging)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The site of an archeological exploration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

archeological site; dig; excavation

Context example:

they set up camp next to the dig

Hypernyms ("excavation" is a kind of...):

land site; site (the piece of land on which something is located (or is to be located))

Domain category:

archaeology; archeology (the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures)

Instance hyponyms:

Byblos (an ancient Mediterranean seaport that was a thriving city state in Phoenicia during the second millennium BC; was the chief port for the export of papyrus; located in Lebanon to the north of Beirut; now partially excavated)

Derivation:

excavate (find by digging in the ground)

excavate (recover through digging)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A hole in the ground made by excavating

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("excavation" is a kind of...):

artefact; artifact (a man-made object taken as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "excavation"):

bore; bore-hole; drill hole (a hole or passage made by a drill; usually made for exploratory purposes)

delf (an excavation; usually a quarry or mine)

diggings; digs (an excavation for ore or precious stones or for archaeology)

ditch (a long narrow excavation in the earth)

mine (excavation in the earth from which ores and minerals are extracted)

mineshaft (excavation consisting of a vertical or sloping passageway for finding or mining ore or for ventilating a mine)

pit; quarry; stone pit (a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate)

pool (an excavation that is (usually) filled with water)

cellar; root cellar (an excavation where root vegetables are stored)

well (a deep hole or shaft dug or drilled to obtain water or oil or gas or brine)

working; workings (a mine or quarry that is being or has been worked)

Derivation:

excavate (remove the inner part or the core of)

excavate (form by hollowing)

excavate (find by digging in the ground)

excavate (recover through digging)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

excavation; mining

Hypernyms ("excavation" is a kind of...):

production ((economics) manufacturing or mining or growing something (usually in large quantities) for sale)

Domain member category:

bore; bore-hole; drill hole (a hole or passage made by a drill; usually made for exploratory purposes)

drift; gallery; heading (a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) passageway in a mine)

fathom; fthm ((mining) a unit of volume (equal to 6 cubic feet) used in measuring bodies of ore)

rag (break into lumps before sorting)

hush (run water over the ground to erode (soil), revealing the underlying strata and valuable minerals)

hush (wash by removing particles)

mine (get from the earth by excavation)

strip mine; surface-mine; surface mine (extract (ore) from a strip-mine)

drive (excavate horizontally)

extract (separate (a metal) from an ore)

opencast; opencut ((of mines and mining) worked from the exposed surface)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "excavation"):

placer mining (mining valuable minerals from a placer by washing or dredging)

opencast mining; strip mining (the mining of ore or coal from an open mine)

Derivation:

excavate (remove the inner part or the core of)

 Context examples 

Located in southwestern France, the Angeac-Charente dig site is unique across all of Europe, with paleontologists having already uncovered around 7,500 bones — from 45 different species of dinosaur — since excavations began back in 2010.

(140 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur’s Huge Bone Found in Southwest France, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Natural or synthetic Anti-glaucoma Agents relieve or prevent glaucoma, a condition characterized by increased intraocular pressure, excavation, and optic nerve damage.

(Anti-glaucoma Agent, NCI Thesaurus)

Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had fallen in and grass had sprouted on the bottom.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The excavation process spanned several years, and included researchers suspended by ropes and large-scale mechanical excavators to recover one of the more complete specimens from this part of the sauropod dinosaur family tree.

(New dinosaur with heart-shaped tail offers clues to evolution of Africa's ecosystems, National Science Foundation)

Potter made the new find on the site of a 2010 excavation, where the cremated remains of another young Ice-Age child were previously found.

(Archaeologists discover remains of Ice-Age infants in Alaska, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Moreover, ancient V-perforated buttons, needles, and even pieces of fabric from the clothes were discovered during the excavations.

(Hair was dyed for first time as part of funeral rituals, University of Granada)

DNA was extracted from walrus sites and archaeological excavations of walrus samples and compared with data from contemporary walruses, documenting that the Icelandic walrus constituted a genetically unique lineage, distinct from all other historic and contemporary walrus populations in the North Atlantic.

(Extinction of Icelandic walrus coincides with Norse settlement, National Science Foundation)

The consequences of the increased pressure may be manifested in a variety of symptoms, depending upon type and severity, such as excavation of the optic disk, hardness of the eyeball, corneal anesthesia, reduced visual acuity, seeing of colored halos around lights, disturbed dark adaptation, visual field defects, and headaches.

(Glaucoma, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

They began to scramble out of the excavation, darting furious glances behind them.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The initial discovery of M. moyowamkia happened in 2004, when part of the skeleton was discovered high in a cliff wall overlooking the seasonally dry Mtuka riverbed, with excavations continuing through 2008.

(New dinosaur with heart-shaped tail offers clues to evolution of Africa's ecosystems, National Science Foundation)