Archaeological research does not end once something has been dug up. If a building is excavated, it needs to be either stabilized or covered over again. Because of the tourism potential of Caracol, much effort had been expended at the site on the stabilization of the site’s structures so that they may be visited by tourists. Similarly, excavated artifactual materials also undergo an extensive system of processing – involving washing, numbering, catologuing, drawing, and photography – so that they can be analyzed and ultimately interpreted to reconstruct life in ancient Caracol. Both stabilization and laboratory processing are important parts of archaeology.