excavation vs delf

excavation and delf both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
excavation	Yes	No	No	No
delf	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, delf is a hyponym of excavation; that is, delf is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than excavation:

excavation (noun)	delf (noun)
the act of extracting ores or coal etc from the earth	an excavation; usually a quarry or mine
the act of digging
a hole in the ground made by excavating
the site of an archeological exploration