Scope note

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This class comprises activities of excavating in the sense of archaeology, which are documented as a coherent set of actions of progressively recording and removing matter from a pre-specified location under specific rules. Typically, an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit would be terminated if significant discontinuities of substance or finds come to light, or if the activity is interrupted due to external factors, such as end of a working day. In other cases, the termination would be based on predefined physical specifications, such as the boundaries of a maximal volume of matter to be excavated in one unit of excavation.

Depending on the methodology, an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit may intend to remove matter only within the boundaries of a particular stratigraphic unit, or it may follow a pre-declared spatial extent such as a trench. It may only uncover, clean or expose a structure or parts of it.

The process of excavation results in the production of a set of recorded (documentation) data that should be sufficient to provide researchers enough information regarding the consistency and spatial distribution of the excavated Segment of Matter and things and features embedded in it. Some parts or all of the removed physical material (instances of S11 Amount of Matter) may be dispersed, whereas others may be kept in custody in the form of finds or samples, while others (such as parts of walls) may be left at the place of their discovery. The data produced by an instance of A1 Excavation Processing Unit should pertain to the material state of matter at excavation time only and should be clearly distinguished from subsequent interpretation about the causes for this state of matter.

The current class A1 Excavation Processing Unit is somewhat overloaded and may be split into two subclasses, one for the intellectual process and one for the physical process. This is left for a future refinement of the model.

Language

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