There's often a lot of equipment needed during excavation. The first step involves unpacking the trucks and setting things up. People check the euquipment to make sure everything is in working order and set it up. Click HERE to see a short movie of people setting up a screen used to sift dirt. Sometimes the site was previously partially excavated and crew members need to clean things up a little before they begin work, such as they are doing in the image to the right.
Excavation is a very formal process.
It follows specific steps and detailed notes are kept throughout to document what people do and what people find. Digging is done in square holes called units, which are usually dug in levels five, ten or twenty centimeters deep. This allows archaeologists to keep track of where things came from when they try to piece together what's going on. A lot of time is spent figuring out where to place each unit. The site can be made up of only a few widely spaced units or sometimes large areas, called blocks, are opened up.