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Before digging, archaeologists first formulate questions and problems regarding a specific project to find out its real purpose. Other factors also determine the extent of the dig. These includes the time to be spent, money available and where and how much to dig on a certain site. Through excavations, archaeologists are able to answer questions not addressed during the past years while minimally interrupting stored archaeological records.
Modern archaeology focuses on excavating ancient materials through shallower digs. By the help of recent technological advancements, these archaeologists are able to establish wider extent of digs but in shallow depths. Because of this, money can be saved by putting only a few people to work. They just take samples from the dig like bones and other buried materials. They could then easily theorize the former way of life happening there. With regards to collapsed structures, archaeologists also try to build them up again for conservation and further studying past life in that area.
Using grid systems, archaeologists can also determine the position and location of objects in the way that they are found. Computer advancements also aid them in trying to map out the way an area looked like in the past years before all its structures were ruined. In general, there are 3 types of excavations that archaeologists use. The first one is called a test pit. It consists of several small holes, which are used in determining the extent of a dig. Another one called a vertical excavation is dug till the depth where little or no living matter is found. These helps know the age of an object and the way of life the former people there lived. The last one is called a horizontal excavation. This involves a very large extent of dig and helps give the over-all location and way the things in a place were situated. Bulldozers for excavating a large mass of land, shovels for removing smaller amounts of empty soil and brushes for removing foreign particles off discovered remains are also used in the field. In cases of extremely small particles, screens are used to extract them from a soil sample. Depending on the size and complexity of a certain ancient standing building, archaeological excavations would proceed as carefully as possible to still preserve the identity of discovered artifacts. This case mostly applies to large structures like the Stonehenge located in southern England. These huge structures could possibly point out the type of civilizations, which once flourished there through hidden artifacts buried around or on its corners. As a result, preservation of each individually discovered object is necessary. So to say, archaeologists would try to determine what the relationship between each stone arrangement, including the position on which they were erected.
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