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Templo Mayor. Mexico. They discovered it recently next to the big famous Cathedral.

They flattened a few city blocks to excavate it.

But they will never flatten the cathedral, or other large famous buildings in the vicinity.

Point is: the longer we wait to excavate, the more the likelihood that something's been constructed on top.

For one thing, you can require an archeological survey before starting the build, as part of the normal permitting process. And this is especially important (and easy to enforce) if the building requires excavation anyway.

But secondly, as long as the building doesn't destroy the site (say, the ruins/remains are buried deep enough), then there is no problem, and the logic still applies: it will be found some few decades or centuries later, so chances are there will be more that can be gleaned from it then.

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