Add to ORKGInternational audienceContemporary engineering processes require numerous competences and knowledge using different semantics. Our research consists to design virtually ancient technical objects. The approach we have developed is a new kind of design process: it is a heritage reverse-engineering methodology. It requires a project team with many jobs which, until then, have never collaborate together or not yet: it is an inter-disciplinary team. An example will demonstrate our proposal for making old technical objects alive again and how human sciences and technical sciences can merge together. The case study is a steam boat designed in 1861 by the enterprise DCNS Propulsion