ABSTRACT
Excavation, once the primary activity of archaeologists, is now the strategy of last resort because it destroys the archaeological record. Today’s digs are carefully designed to cause minimum disturbance. Meticulpously prepared research plans lie behind today’s excavations. Chapter 6 describes the process of archaeological excavation, various approaches to site testing and investigation, and the basics of recording and stratigraphic observation. We stress that there’s no such thing as a standardized way of digging archaeological sites. Much of the chapter is devoted to summaries of some of the major challenges faced by excavators. We also discuss the ethical issues surrounding the excavation of human burials.
