Relating to or involving excavation; connected with the process of digging and removing earth or materials.
From 'excavation' + '-al' (relating to). This adjective form emerged in the 19th century as excavation became a formal scientific discipline.
When a word gets the '-al' suffix, it transforms a noun action into an adjective describing a whole category—so 'excavational techniques' groups all the different digging methods together. It's how language creates shortcuts for complex ideas.
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