To clarify, I am not talking about virgin sites that are temples.. but rather the more outlying villages. Still tons of satisfying things and much easier to find everything completely intact.
1) Overgrowth. It depends. In dense jungles it can be nearly impossible and take months even with proper equipment. In other areas there can be very little overgrowth but of course these are more difficult to find before the looters. Also, looters don't remove the overgrowth but from a small area and then tunnel within the structures.
2) Not really... most have to be completely dug out.
3) What do you mean by a 'wall to follow?' (and I don't 'slash and burn'... fwiw)
Thanks, that makes sense. I guess I had this vision of you going Indiana Jones style, burrowing into the temples like looters do in search of face masks, sacred genital spikes, & tongue cords (hence following inner walls).
What I meant by slash and burn is digging similar to how the looters do it with tunnels instead of proper archeological methods. Why don't they remove the outer growth to harvest the bas-reliefs though? No money in stone? There is a black market for them.