1) Digging 2) Groundwork 1) Garden digging 2) Initial effort 3) Preliminary data gathering 4) Preliminary drudgery 5) Preliminary preparation 6) Work 
Spadework is a novel by Canadian writer Timothy Findley set in the theater world of Stratford, Ontario. It was first published in Canada by HarperCollins Publishers in 2001. ==Plot introduction== Compared to Findley`s other work, Spadework takes a lighter, more straightforward turn — which does not mean it is simple-minded. The complexity lies ....
(from the article `archaeology`) ...the impression to many that excavation is merely a matter of shifting away the soil and subsoil with a spade or shovel; the titles of such ...
[n] - dull or routine preliminary work preparing for an undertaking
noun dull or routine preliminary work preparing for an undertaking