Relating to, used for, or involved in excavation; suitable for or capable of excavating.
From 'excavate' + '-ory' (relating to or serving the purpose of). The term developed in technical and scientific writing to describe methods and tools for digging.
The '-ory' suffix attaches to verbs to create adjectives about purpose—'excavatory' describes things whose purpose IS to excavate. It's like grammar's way of saying 'this is what this thing is FOR.'
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