You'll get XP each time you excavate, similar to Divination. However, you'll gain more XP for successful actions (when you obtain a material).

There are mysteries to solve, and the occasional puzzle to complete should you wish to gain access to more of a site (which you should want to, as there are excavation spots there), however these are not repeatable.

Stupendously hyped for this, I was a noobie when Invention came out but I'm so ready to dive into this skill, think the team have smashed it, very much looking forward to more information as it releases!

That light crossbow is an example of an artefact which sits inside of the core loop (excavate, discover, restore, repeat).

The spear of annihilation that was mentioned at RuneFest is still an artefact that you can obtain, however it is only similar in the sense that you have to restore it. It works differently and is not collected by collectors for example.

There is no ancient herblore in the release of Archaeology. At RuneFest it was mentioned as a potential reward from a future dig site called 'Orthen'.

Could you contextualise what you mean?

There's a slight/minor thematic overlap, but they are vastly different pieces of content. I don't really see there being any direct comparison between them.

Hey,

Thanks once again for compiling the information shared in the stream, u/ImRubic!
I'll just expand on/clarify a point or two mentioned from this composition.

Excavation
Time-sprites - Similar to Rockertunities but also slightly different.
Permanently present but requires you to be active and follow them around the excavation site.

There are numerous different excavation spots within a site and there's a Time Sprite active at each type of excavation spots. Consider some trees in Woodcutting as an example... an Oak, Willow, and Maple tree are different types of hotspots, but there is a Time Sprite that travels between the Oak trees, then another one that travels between the Willow trees and so on. You do not have to move to a different type of hotspot that you don't want to, and rather just between the type of hotspot you're excavating from.
I hope that made sense. :P

Excavation Discoveries

Artefacts - Always found broken and when the progress bar is full. (Can be banked).

To add some more information, the discovery bar (progress bar) is tracked per excavation hotspot type. So for example, if you make 50% progress on finding an artefact from a level 10 excavation spot, and then unlock a new one at level 12 and move over to it, your progress on finding an artefact from the newly unlocked excavation spot is at 0%, but if you go back to the level 10 hotspot, it will still be where you left it at 50%.

Restored Artefacts can be:

Kept for future uses.

For clarity, this isn't for future updates and rather for other content within the skill. You'll probably learn quite soon after the update some of the uses for different artefacts.
Your other points under the 'Restored Artefacts can be' heading does cover their repeatable uses well though. :)

Unlock new digsites and new excavations.
Find all of their secrets, loot chests full of materials, encounter puzzles to be navigated.

Each site has its own design, and they don't all follow suit, so don't expect the same thing for every site.

Will lookout for more questions over the night and throughout the day tomorrow, so any questions just ask! :)

There is a deficit for players with regards to Chronotes, it will be difficult for you to get all of the latest unlocks from the store and keep up with General + Special Research AND changing relics. The intention is that if you want to be the at the cutting edge as soon as you unlock items, you will have to spend (and spend big) in order to maintain that edge. If you're smart with how you train, and don't mind a delay in how you obtain items or not being at 100% efficiency, then you should be relatively self-sustaining.

The design for Chronotes has risks attached but thanks to our longevity testing, we've mitigated as best we can. Chronotes should always be in demand for players training Archaeology and those using relics, this is exacerbated for the initial months of the skills as players racing for 120 (or wanting to finish the skill quickly) will need even more than they could hope to earn to cover research, consumable buffs et al.

It's a slight tangent but the income of Chronotes is closely tied to the income of materials as the only way to obtain Chronotes is via handing in restored artefacts. This means that with the way that materials work, you're not expected to be able to restore all of the artefacts you obtain from an hour's worth of excavation with the materials you've earned requiring a player to either: trade, screen soil and/or use material caches in order to finish their projects.

Having read through everything I've put down here, it may look either complicated or the design is being "mean" - both of those are partially true but the focus has always been in creating a bustling economy (the vast majority of the skill's items are tradeable minus artefacts), different ways to play the skill and for it to feel like you're achieving something. Come 30th March and you get your hands on it, see the designed systems in place and experience the skill - hopefully it all falls into place, makes sense and we get the same amount of joy that our longevity testers experienced.

I think you might be conflating picks and mattocks here.

The Pickaxe of Earth and Song is its own thing, exclusively used in Mining.

For mattocks, you would need two dragon mattocks. One of those you would turn into a crystal mattock (with 4,000 harmonic dust), the other into an imcando mattock (using new objects released with Archaeology). Then you would combine the crystal and imcando mattocks together to create the Mattock of Time and Space.

This mimics the path pickaxes use, but mattocks and pickaxes are entirely separate.

Not to worry. Archaeology absolutely feels like a skill when you are training it, and is most definitely not a minigame just because it has a baked-in currency. I mean, Farming has a currency now (beans) and hasn't spontaneously morphed into a minigame. It's all in the delivery and the feel.

That said, Dungeoneering being seen by some as a minigame is entirely moot if it is consistently the second highest voted favourite skill. So, if Arch ends up being viewed by some as a minigame, as long as it's being enjoyed, that's a "problem" I think we'd be happy to have. :)

That interface is built dynamically depending on how players have their interfaces set up. There is no concept of centre, only order (top-left to bottom-right).

While we could hack in a fix for anyone with a three column layout, that doesn't help those with a different setup. We'd also only end up having to remove the hack when we release the next skill or two.

Embargoes on XP boosting items are in place to give a fairer playing field for the highscore race every new skill brings. Once the embargo is lifted, all boosts will be made to work with Arch.

That said, I believe the dwarf weed incense sticks do work, as they are effectively porters and run through the same code, and porters do work with Archaeology.

Dragon, Crystal, Imcamdo, Time and Space as well as the Hero Mattock

I think people have confused that earlier I said the process was similar to obtaining an imcando pickaxe. You will not need imcando pickaxes or pieces to make an imcando mattock.

It will be that same bullsh*t. You can store materials in the bank if you'd prefer, though the restoration workbench will not recognise any in your bank. They can be deposited in noted form, though, and there's a bank chest close by every material storage, so it's a tiny hardship at worst.

The XP and elite Archaeology outfits are baked into the skill progression and fairly available to all as they progress to the point in the skill where they can be obtained. You train Archaeology to access them - they are part of the race, not aside from it.

The exclamation mark isn't important. It was more just a joke. :)

Don't worry, that's not the official name. They are researchers. It was just me trying to be funny!

No, it is purchasable from the Chronote store.

Same.

Yes, Chronotes are tradeable.

There is an associated achievement for handing in restored artefacts to the museum if that's you're thing but its intention is a sink for surplus artefacts.