The "Ciudad Perdida" (Lost City) is the name the present Indians to Malpaís Prieto, a Pre-Hispanic site located in the northern part of the state of Michoacán, and was founded around 1250 b. C. by Chichimeca groups. The descendants of these Chichimec groups, known as Uacúsechas, would later establish the ruling Tarascan dynasty on the shores of Lake Pátzcuaro, which from its capital, Tzintzuntzan, would control much of the present state of Michoacan and bordering areas. This empire was in its apogee when the Spaniards arrived in Mexico. The exhibition of 87 archaeological pieces represents the outcome of the latest results of the archaeological research that begun more than three decades ago by CEMCA specialists in the northern region of the Michoacán-Guanajuato Volcanic Field (MGVF) in Mexico, one of the largest volcanic fields of the Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). "The interdisciplinary and inter-institutional effort has allowed the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment, dating of historical volcanic events associated with the human occupation of the basin of Zacapu, archaeometric characterization of materials as well as osteological investigations of anthropological and ethnozoological order." (HKB Translation) --Page 11.