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Archaeological digs require far more preparation than the actual excavation itself. Before any soil is removed, teams typically spend months conducting geophysical surveys, using tools such as ground-penetrating radar to identify likely locations of buried structures without disturbing the site. This preliminary work helps archaeologists avoid excavating areas unlikely to yield significant findings, which conserves both time and funding. Once excavation begins, progress is often slow and methodical, since removing soil too quickly risks damaging fragile artifacts or destroying contextual information about how objects were originally arranged. This context, sometimes called stratigraphy, can reveal as much about a site's history as the artifacts themselves, which is why experienced archaeologists prioritize careful, incremental digging over speed, even when working under tight funding deadlines.