Ciudad Antigua: from remote sensing to virtual interactive experience of a pre-Hispanic settlement in Colombia

Abstract

This study addresses the first photogrammetry reconstruction of Ciudad Antigua (CA), a pre-Hispanic archaeological site in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNSM), which is located in northern Colombia. The construction characteristics and symbolic relevance of places such as Ciudad Antigua, constitute a major part of the cultural heritage of Colombia. However, the remote location and limited public knowledge of the place have proven to be a disadvantage for the protection and conservation of this site. With this virtual representation project, we seek to fulfill three objectives: (1) Establish a strategy to preserve at-risk, remote archaeological sites through digital artifacts; (2) Use computational processes to go beyond representation and further analyze spatial components of the site; and (3) Spark and strengthen community interest in the history, architecture, design, and archaeology of SNSM. This study applies visualization and computation techniques to remote vestiges of cultural value, and demonstrates how these techniques can contribute to the social appropriation and protection of these ancient settlements. We created a functional prototype that could make the results of this research more readily available to the general public.