Mexican archeologists bring ancient city back to life through virtual reconstruction

A group of archeologists and technicians have been able to recreate a virtual version of the Tingambato pre-Columbian city , located in Michoacán approximately 1,500 years ago, as informed on Monday by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in a statement.

According to the latest studiest led by archeologist José Luis Punzo , Tingambato was inhabited for nine centuries, from year Zero to 900 A.D. , although the virtual reconstruction is based on the period that corresponds to its prime.

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This digital reconstruction , which is available at the INAH’s Media Library website , has been possible “thanks to gadgets like drones , HD cameras , and LiDAR tools ,”

The project was carried out by national and international education institutions such as the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the University of Strasbourg in France and the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

The first discoveries of the Tingambato archeological site began with explorations in 1970 by the archeologists Román Piña Chan and Kuniaki Ohi .

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After Piña and Ohi’s discoveries, who found an ancient ball game and a mass tomb, explorations in the area continued and concluded that Tingambato reached its prime after the great fire at Teotihuacan’s Road of the Dead in 570 A.D.

The team is currently working in the virtual reconstruction of the site that could be used both for academic purposes and for history dissemination through augmented reality of the Tombs I and II, archeological sites discovered in 1979 and 2012 , correspondingly.

Punzo added that the visualization of Tomb I provides the spectator with a perspective of its current state as well as how it was when it was first discovered.

In order to do so, it was necessary to contact, through the University of Kyoto , the relatives of Kuniaki Ohi, who provided plans , notes , and sketches the Japanese archeologist made during his work with Piña Chan.

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