Excavation is the last step in the mitigation process.

Excavations are time consuming and to avoid clashes with any development time frames should be planned ahead of the main development work- a further reason to locate archaeological sites during the assessment and not during monitoring of the initial earthworks.

The three dimensional documentation of features and finds is the main task on an excavation.

ASL makes extensive use of robotic total stations, relational databases, CAD and GIS to hasten this process and still record everything in high detail. In addition the digitally recorded data speeds up the post excavation analysis, e.g. find distribution maps. The use of the latest surveying, drawing and analytical methods by ASL are time and cost effective compared to traditional methods.

ASL have an excellent track record in creating and applying research questions that provide a context and focus of the excavation work and are essential for the final product - the report - to be relevant and meaningful for the descendant group and the wider public.