Meaning

verb recover through digging

verb find by digging in the ground

verb form by hollowing

originFirst attested in 1599, from Latin excavātus (“hollowed out”), perfect passive participle of excavō (“to hollow out”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (“out”) + cavō (“to hollow out, pierce”), from cavus (“cave, hole”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0