Editing Archaeological excavation (section)

==Recording==
Archaeological excavation is an unrepeatable process, since the same area of the ground cannot be excavated twice.<ref>{{cite book | last=Barker | date=1982 | title=Techniques of Archaeological Excavation
 | edition=2nd | location=London| publisher=Batsford | isbn=978-0713427387 }}</ref>
Thus, archaeology is often known as a destructive science, where you must destroy the original evidence in order to make observations.  To mitigate this, highly accurate and precise digital methods can be used to record the excavation process and its results.<ref>{{cite journal | last1= Roosevelt | last2=Cobb | last3=Moss | last4=Olson | last5=Ünlüsoy | date=2015 | title =Excavation is {{strikethrough|Destruction}} Digitization: Advances in Archaeological Practice | journal=Journal of Field Archaeology | volume=40 | issue=3 | pages=325–346 | doi=10.1179/2042458215Y.0000000004 | s2cid=109818432 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Single context recording system===
{{Main|Single context recording}}
[[Single context recording]] was developed in the 1970s by the [[museum of London]] (as well as earlier in Winchester and York) and has become the de facto recording system in many parts of the world and is especially suited to the complexities of deep [[urban archaeology]] and the process of [[Stratification (archaeology)|Stratification]].
Each excavated context is given a unique "context number" and is recorded by type on a context sheet and perhaps being drawn on a [[archaeological plan|plan]] and/or a [[Archaeological section|section]]. Depending on time constraints and importance contexts may also be photographed, but in this case a grouping of contexts and their associations are the purpose of the photography. [[Small finds|Finds]] from each context are bagged and labeled with their context number and site code for later [[cross-reference]] work carried out post-excavation. The height above sea level of pertinent points on a context, such as the top and bottom of a wall are taken and added to plans sections and context sheets. Heights are recorded with a [[dumpy level]] or total station by relation to the site ''' temporary [[Benchmark (surveying)|benchmark]]''' (abbr. T.B.M). Samples of deposits from contexts are sometimes also taken, for later environmental analysis or for [[Chronological dating|scientific dating]].

===Digital recording===
Digital tools used by field archaeologists during excavation include [[GPS]], [[tablet computers]], [[relational databases]], [[digital cameras]], 3d [[laser scanner]]s, and [[unmanned aerial vehicles]]. After high quality digital data have been recorded, these data can then be shared over the internet for [[open access]] and use by the public and archaeological researchers.
Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is [[digital photography]], such as of a physical scene or of the interior structure of an object.  The term is often used to include the processing, compression, storage, printing, and display of the images.