Excavate /(?)/

imp. & p. p. Excavated; p. pr. & vb. n. Excavating

1. To hollow out; to form cavity or hole in; to make hollow by cutting, scooping, or digging; as, to excavate a ball; to excavate the earth.
2. To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a channel.
3. To dig out and remove, as earth. (Engin.)

   The material excavated was usually sand.