Word Finder - excavations

definition

The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.

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A cavity formed by cutting, digging, or scooping.

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An uncovered cutting in the earth, in distinction from a covered cutting or tunnel.

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The material dug out in making a channel or cavity.

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Archaeological research that unearths buildings, tombs and objects of historical value.

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A site where an archaeological exploration is being carried out.

He took part in the excavations at Olympia in 1878, became an assistant in the Berlin Museum in 1880, and professor at Berlin (1884) and later at Munich.

Numerous objects had been discovered in the course of excavations, but not one of them could be recognized as more than a few centuries old, while those that were not demonstrably foreign imports were of African type.

Excavations on the site of Ostia were only begun towards the close of the 18th century, and no systematic work was done until 1854, when under Pius IX.

This figure of speech refers, not to a basket or box in which things can be stored, but to the baskets, used in India in excavations, as a means of handing on the earth from one worker to another.

A large number of votive terra-cotta figures, vases and lamps were found in the course of the excavations.

The subsequent discovery of a document written in Babylonian cuneiform at Lachish (Tell el Hesy), and more recently still of another in the excavations at Ta`annek, have established the fact beyond all dispute.

It concluded an alliance with Rome in 308 B.C. The modern village lies higher than the ancient town, and excavations on the site of the latter in 1775 and following years led to the discovery of the baths, a theatre, a basilica and other buildings.

These ancient indications of a Minoan connexion with Sicily have now received interesting confirmation in the numerous discoveries, principally due to the recent excavations of P. Orsi, of arms and painted vases of Late Minoan fabric in Bronze Age tombs of the provinces of Syracuse and Girgenti (Agrigentum) belonging to the late Bronze Age.

His accuracy, which has been called in question by some scholars, has been remarkably vindicated by recent excavations at Athens and elsewhere.

The dotted lines show the course taken by the excavations, which began at the lower part of the plan.

Previous to the extensive excavations referred to above, Crete had been carefully examined and explored by Tournefort, Pococke, Olivier and other travellers, e.g.

Several of the excavations in the limestone, which is extensively quarried, are incorporated in dwelling-houses.

Even Schliemann's first excavations at Hissarlik in the Troad (q.v.) did not excite surprise.

Two Aegean vases were found at Sidon in 1885, and many fragments of Aegean and especially Cypriote pottery have been turned up during recent excavations of sites in Philistia by the Palestine Fund.

She was worshipped, under the form of a conical stone, in an open-air sanctuary of the usual Cypriote type (not unlike those of Mycenaean Greece), the general form of which is known from representations on late gems, and on Roman imperial coins;' its ground plan was discovered by excavations in 1888.2 It suffered repeatedly from earthquakes, and was rebuilt more than once; in Roman times it consisted of an open court, irregularly quadrangular, with porticos and chambers on three sides, and a gateway through them on the east.

Quibell was charged by the Service des Antiquites solely with the excavations in this vast necropolis.

In Canada, means of transport similar to those already described are employed, but the reservoirs for storage often consist of excavations in the soft Erie clay of the oil district, the sides of which are supported by planks.

In 1870 the Greek Archaeological Society undertook a series of excavations in the Outer Ceramicus, which had already been partially explored by various scholars.

Here a series of excavations, carried out by the British School in 1896-1897 under the direction of Cecil Smith, revealed the foundations of an extensive Greek building, the outlines of which correspond with those of a gymnasium; it possessed a large bath or cistern, and was flanked on two sides by water-courses.

At the eastern end of the Acropolis a little circular temple of white marble with a peristyle of 9 Ionic columns was dedicated to Rome and Augustus; its foundations were discovered during the excavations of 1885-1888.

Excavations carried out in 1898-1899 showed that the structure was nearly square; the only portion remaining is the slightly curved front, with three niches between Corinthian pilasters; in the central niche is the statue of Philopappus.

Among its numerous enterprises have been the extensive and costly excavations at Delos and Delphi, which have yielded such remarkable results.

The German Archaeological Institute, founded in 1874, has carried out excavations at Thebes, Lesbos, Paros, Athens and elsewhere; it has also been associated in the great researches at Olympia, Pergamum and Troy, and in many other important undertakings.

The British School, founded in 1886, has been unable, owing to insufficient endowment, to work on similar lines with the French and German institutions; it has, however, carried out extensive excavations at Megalopolis and in Melos, as well as researches at Abae, in Athens (presumed site of the Cynosarges), in Cyprus, at Naucratis and at Sparta.

The history of excavations on the Acropolis is summarized in 1VI.

In the years immediately preceding the war we have to chronicle first a great advance in our knowledge of the beginnings of Egyptian history, owing mainly to the excavations of Prof. Flinders Petrie at Tarkhan 1 and of the German, Prof. Junker (working for Austria), at Tura.

It seems characteristic of the neighbourhood of the gulf; the French excavations at Bandar Bushir "on the Persian coast have revealed exactly similar ware.

Megalithic town walls were naturally common in that stony land, Palestine, and very typical specimens of them were found in the Palestine Exploration Fund's excavations at Bethshemesh (`Ain Shems) directed by Dr. Duncan Mackenzie, 29 whose work also threw new light on the phenomenon of the appearance in Palestine between the 12th and 10th centuries B.C. of subMycenaean (Greek) pottery, which can only be ascribed to the Philistines, whose historical position as a foreign invading force from the Aegean area (Lycia and Crete-Kaphtor) is now entirely vindicated.

Dr. Reisner, working for Boston, was not held up by the war, but continued his excavations in the Giza pyramid field and in Nubia, making good finds in both places.

It is related that, during the performance of one of his plays, the scaffolding of the wooden stage gave way, in consequence of which the Athenians built a theatre of stone; but recent excavations make it doubtful whether a stone theatre existed in Athens at so early a date.

In 1785 White and Mrs Buchan published a Divine Dictionary, but the sect broke up on the death of its founder in spite of White's attempts 1 In August 1908, during some excavations at Dunkeld, remains were found which are supposed to be those of Alexander Stewart, the "wolf of Badenoch."

That such vast excavations should have been made without attracting attention, and that such an immense number of corpses could have been carried to burial in perfect secrecy is utterly impossible.

In 1901-1902 excavations in the cemetery of Santa Priscilla, near the Cappella Greca, revealed a polygonal chamber.

The date of these walls has not as yet been ascertained, recent excavations, which led to the discovery of a few tombs in which the earliest objects showing Greek influence may go back to the 7th century B.C., not having produced any decisive evidence on the point.

He also pushed his investigations into the great temple of Edfu, visited Elephantine and Philae, cleared the great temple at Abu Simbel of sand (1817), made excavations at Karnak, and opened up the sepulchre of Seti I.

In 1819 he returned to England, and published in the following year an account of his travels and discoveries entitled Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia, &c. He also exhibited during 1820-1821 facsimiles of the tomb of Seti I.

Excavations carried out by the marquess of Bute from 188 9 onward furnished for the first time conclusive proof that Cardiff had been a Roman station, and also revealed the sequence of changes which it had subsequently undergone.

The excavations at the Hieron have been recorded as they went on in the Ilpaeroat of the Greek Archaeological Society, especially for 1881-1884 and 1889, and also in the 'E4»u€pis 'ApxatoXoynoi, especially for 1883 and 1885; see also Kavvadias, Les Fouilles d'Epidaure and Tb r03'A?KX iv 'E7rukbpq, eat 9Epa7reta7'CJY Defrasse and Lechat, Epidaure.

Here the excavations of the British school cleared many houses, including a palace of "Mycenaean" type; there is also a town wall.

The place of its performance at Rome was near the site of St Peter's, in the excavations of which several altars and inscriptions commemorative of taurobolia were discovered.

Farther to the north and east the series seems to extend into Siberia, but in this region excavations have been few.

Inscriptions found at Nippur, where extensive excavations were carried on during 1888-1900 by Messrs Peters and Haynes, under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, show that Bel of Nippur was in fact regarded as the head of an extensive pantheon.

The excavations at the latter place in 1881 threw great light upon the early history of London.

The historians of the Roman Empire have left us some particulars of the visits of emperors and generals to Britain, but little or nothing about what happened in London, and we should be more ignorant than we are of the condition of Londinium if it had not been that a large number of excavations have been made in various parts of the city which have disclosed a considerable amount of its early history.

Pieces of the wall are to be seen in various parts of the city, and are frequently found when extensive excavations are made for new buildings.

A considerable portion of the old wall was laid bare by the excavations for the new Post Office in St Martin's-le-Grand.

Sir William Tite gave reasons for believing that Bishopsgate Street was not a Roman thoroughfare, and in the excavations at Leadenhall the basilica to which allusion has already been made was found apparently crossing the present thoroughfare of Gracechurch Street.

The term 1 is not limited to underground operations, but includes also surface excavations, as in placer mining and open-air workings of coal and ore deposits by methods similar to quarrying, and boring operations for oil, natural gas or brine.

The latter includes not only the actual excavation of the mineral, but also haulage and hoisting by which it is brought to the surface, timbering and other means of supporting the excavations, and the drainage and ventilation of mines.

When the rocks are concealed by detrital material he looks for outcroppings on steep hillsides, on the crests of hills or ridges, in the beds of streams, in landslides, in the roots of overturned trees, and in wells, quarries, roadcuttings and other excavations.