earthwork

noun

1. excavation and piling of earth in connection with an engineering operation.
2. Military. a construction formed chiefly of earth for protection against enemy fire, used in both offensive and defensive operations.
3. an artistic work that consists of a large-scale alteration or modification of an area of land in a configuration designed by an artist or of an artist’s sculptural installation, as in a museum or gallery, of soil, rock, or similar elemental materials.

noun

1. excavation of earth, as in engineering construction
2. a fortification made of earth

n.

1630s, from earth + work (n.). In this sense Old English had eorðbyrig; Old English eorðweorc meant “work on the land.”