Planning the Excavation
The first step in any archaeological excavation is to
prepare a plan for how the 
excavation
and analysis will be conducted. This is often called a Research
Design and Treatment Plan. It lays out the excavation strategy
that will be followed, and how the artifacts will be collected and treated
back in the lab. Most importantly, for projects on historic sites, the
Research Design and Treatment Plan contains historical research about
the project area, and uses that research to identify areas that may
contain undisturbed archaeological deposits.
Why
Archaeology is Important 
Doing archaeology in the city has its share of challenges. Sites are
often next to roads or beneath overpasses, making for cramped, dark,
working conditions and constant noise. Protective clothing and other
precautions are often necessary to protect archaeologists against soils
contaminated by lead or hydrocarbons from car exhaust or other unseen
contaminants. Other hazards can lie in the type of archaeological feature
being excavated: wells and privies can be very deep and built into unstable
soil, requiring that archaeologists receive special safety training
and install shoring equipment to prevent cave-ins. Before excavation,
archaeologists prepare a health and safety plan to identify the hazards
and tell the field archaeologists the precautions they need to take.
DIG DEEPER: Hazardous
Working Conditions
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