Jennings, Justin; Wernke, Steven; Berquist, Stephen et al. “IMÁGENES AÉREAS SISTEMÁTICAS Y DOCUMENTACIÓN DEL SITIO ARQUEOLÓGICO DE HUARI: UNA ACTUALIZACIÓN Y PERSPECTIVAS PARA EL FUTURO” (SYSTEMATIC AERIAL IMAGING AND DOCUMENTATION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF HUARI: AN UPDATE AND PERSPECTIVES FOR THE FUTURE). Chungará (Arica), Volume 56, Issue 1, 2024, pp. 23-44. DOI: 10.4067/s0717-73562024005000101.
The Huari site, the largest city ever built in Pre-Columbian South America, was the center of a powerful political formation that lasted for approximately four centuries during the Middle Horizon period (600–1000 CE). Recognized as an early center of Andean civilization by Cieza de León in the 16th century and first extensively studied by Julio C. Tello in 1931, the significance of the site has been well-established through nearly a century of archaeological research. Despite this, the enormous scale of the city has made it difficult to fully understand its spatial organization. Currently, only basic sketch plans based on aerial imagery exist, with some sectors more thoroughly documented through on-the-ground surveys.
To gain a clearer understanding of the site, the Royal Ontario Museum and Vanderbilt University launched a joint documentation and modeling project in 2017. This project focused on a 2 km² area of the city that includes standing architecture. The research team employed drones (UAVs) to capture high-resolution imagery of the site, resulting in orthomosaics—detailed composite images created by stitching together aerial photos. These orthomosaics, with a resolution as fine as ~3 cm, are now available for public exploration and download through the Huari Mapping Project website (www.huarimappingproject.org), and the platform will be updated as more imagery becomes available.
This article discusses the history of previous mapping and documentation efforts at the Huari site, as well as the methodology used in the 2017 project. The resulting imagery and 3D models will support ongoing research and heritage preservation initiatives, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of Huari’s layout and its significance in Andean history.
Figura 2. Mapa de Huari de William Isbell, Patricia Knobloch, y Katharina Schreiber, 1970.
Map of Huari by William Isbell, Patricia Knobloch, y Katharina Schreiber, 1970.
