Three Dimensional Modeling of the Central Plaza Copan Ruinas, Honduras (UNAH-IARPACUNA)

Between August 24-27, 2016, a team of specialists from the Departments of Biology as well as Ecology and Natural Resources from the School of Biology of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH) together with specialists from the Faculty of Spatial Sciences (FACES) carried out a field visit to the Copán Archaeological Park (PAC) to begin the first phase of the Project Inventory of Flora and Fauna of the Copan Archaeological Park. The specialists involved in the project are Rafael Corrales, Academic Coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Territorial Planning and Management from FACES; Thelma Mejía, professor and head of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources; Lilian Ferrufino, professor of the Biology Department and Director of the TFH Herbarium; German Sandoval and Saulo Romero, professors of the Biology Department; Kevin Sagastume and Olvin Oyuela, technical assistants of the Biology Department; Vilder Morel and Farlem Ordoñez, students of the Biology Department.

The field work for this project was carried out with the authorization and collaboration of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) and in accordance with the legal and scientific provisions of the Institute of Forest Conservation (ICF).

During that same field tour the Head of the Department of Science and Geographic Information Technologies of the FACES, Eduardo Moreno; acting in his capacity as main researcher of the Project Cartographic Generation and Spatial Analysis of the Copán Archaeological Park, held meetings with the co-director of the project, Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle, and other specialists conducting research in Copán. ICF personnel made a field trip to Copán between September 2-6, 2016, where they completed a dron flight in the area corresponding to the Copán Archaeological Park (PAC) and its buffer zone. The data generated through this inter-institutional collaborative endeavor were processed by Eduardo Moreno in order to generate the first product of the project; a map of the Maya site of Copán drawn up with the criteria stipulated by UNESCO. This map was presented to the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) on November 29, 2016.

Due to reasons beyond our control we had to cancel the scheduled field work for the Project 3D Modelling of the Northern Sector of the Main Plaza of the Archaeological Park of Copán, Honduras. This trip will be tentatively scheduled for the end of March, 2017, pending confirmation from COPECO (Contingencies Permanent Commission), an institution that will provide its laser scanner to carry out processing of structures in the Main Plaza and the Rosalila temple. Likewise, the field work corresponding to the Projects: Spatial Analysis of the Risks and Anthropogenic Threats of the Copán Archaeological Park and Evaluation of the State of Conservation of the Stelae of Copan, is currently under discussion for scheduling.