Archaeology begins an investigation of the past of a place by SURVEY. This can be from the air, by satellite, or drone, or on the surface by picking up pottery or under the surface using geophysical prospection or tested at depth using test pits or trenches to find where the intact archaeology starts. At Castronovo these techniques were employed to locate and evaluate settlements of different periods and details of the military system employed at its fortress on Monte Kassar. The process started by studying the results of previous excavations and taking account of the good advice offered by their excavators.
Excavation at key areas follows. The area to be excavated is marked out and the mixed deposits at the top removed by machine. Then we use shovels, spades, forks, hoes and rakes to remove the layers one at a time setting aside the finds of pottery, metalwork, glass, and animal bone found within each.
Every deposit of soil (context) and every man-made pit or wall (feature) is mapped and described. The pottery, metalwork and glass are dated (saying when they were made) and provenanced (saying where they came from). Then every past activity that has been detected is put into order in a diagram (a stratification diagram) and divided into events, phases and period by date.
Before the whole story can be told, the microscopic analyses must be completed. These are done in the lab.