EXCAVATE

[verb] - to remove earth that is covering (very old objects buried in the ground) in order to discover things about the past, or to look for old objects by removing earth from (an area of land)Tintagel Castle, the reputed birthplace of King Arthur, is being excavated professionally for the first time in more than 50 years. [T]Three dinosaurs have already been found on the excavated site. [T]They spent seven years excavating in the Middle East. [I](figurative) She has become famous enough for hordes of journalists to go around excavating her past and unearthing details of her private life. [T]To excavate is also to dig a hole or channel in the ground for other purposes.In tin mining today, workers excavate tunnels horizontally from a vertical shaft.