Leaving sites in their natural states of preservation covered with blown sand and native vegetation is the best means of preserving the site. Removing the sand and clearing the rooms exposes the walls to rain, freeze-thaw cycles, and hastens their destruction. It also creates a difficult, costly, and ongoing maintenance problem to preserve the exposed walls. An important concern is the belief of many Pueblo and Hopi Indians and others that these sites should be left to naturally return to the earth without being disturbed. Today archaeology has shifted away from large-scale excavations.
Techniques now allow much information to be gathered without ever disturbing a site.
Sites are mapped and surveyed, and sampled for tree ring dating studies. Pottery sherds are studied and dated. Remote sensing provides data without digging into the site. Museum collections are re-examined, and new ideas emerge from the existing data that has been collected over the last 100 years. Oral history traditions of Pueblo and Hopi Indian descendants provide complimentary insights and understanding of these sites.