Description
List of dos and don'ts when visiting sites, the purpose of which is to reduce visitor impacts to fragile archaeological sites.

How to Use This Tool
Use on signs, visitor publications, and in interpretive presentations. Require tour operators to follow these standards and communicate them to their customers.

 

Example

Remember...When you visit a site:

• As you approach the site, stop for a moment and think about how you can minimize your impact.
• Stay off the midden (usually a low mound near the site that is important to archaeologists and Native Americans), especially in alcove sites where the midden may have a steep, easily eroded side.
• Walls that are stressed once too often can suddenly collapse. Please don't use them as handholds to gain access to a site, and don't stand or climb on them.
• Please avoid walking along the base of walls built on slopes. Erosion at the base of walls causes them to topple.
• If you pick up an artifact (including prehistoric corn cobs), please replace it where you found it. Moving artifacts from one portion of a site to another makes it difficult to chart a site's growth.
• Removing artifacts is illegal.
• Charcoal and soot are used to date sites. Modern charcoal and soot contaminate the record, so please don't build fires or camp within a site.
• New technology makes it possible to date rock art by analyzing the patina that has built up over the millennia. This patina can be altered by touching it or enhancing it for photography through scratching, pecking, chalking, or oiling. Please refrain from touching it or from using any enhancement techniques.
• Children's natural curiosity and enthusiasm for climbing is easily aroused by walls, nooks, and crannies found at many archaeological sites. Please keep them under close supervision while visiting a site.

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