1. The act of digging
   "there's an interesting excavation going on near Princeton";
   - digging, dig
    
2. The act of extracting ores or coal etc. from the earth
   "The company's excavation operations expanded into new territories";
   - mining
    
3. A hole in the ground made by excavating
   "The archaeological excavation revealed ancient artifacts"
    
4. (archeology) the site of an archeological exploration
   "they set up camp next to the excavation";
   - dig, archeological site

Derived forms: excavations

Type of: artefact [Brit], artifact [N. Amer], creating by removal, land site, production, site

Encyclopedia: Excavation