Challenges and achievements in the praxis of high altitude archaeology in Northern Argentina

CERUTI, MARÍA CONSTANZA

Andover

Conferencia; 30 Northeast Conference on Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory; 2011

Archaeological research is undoubtedly a meaningful endeavor; not only for the scientific knowledge produced about ancient civilizations, but also for the opportunity to contribute to the preservation of our cultural heritage for future generations. In this presentation I would like to adopt a personal perspective to share the challenges that I have faced (and to celebrate some of the achievements attained) during fifteen years of professional praxis as the only female Andean high-altitude archaeologist in northern Argentina. I am proud to be the founder and director (ad-honorum) of a small Institute of High Mountain Research at the Catholic University of Salta, Argentina; as well as the author of more than seventy academic publications, including seven books. With little support and very limited resources, I have managed to explore more than one hundred mountains above 5000 meters within the context of systematic archaeological research. I participated as project co-director in Johan Reinhard´s archaeological expeditions in 1999 and 2000, funded by the National Geographic Society. On the summit of volcano Llullaillaco (6739 m), the site of the highest archaeological work ever undertaken, Reinhard and I discovered three of the best preserved mummies in the world, together with numerous gold and silver statues and sumptuary objects of typical Inca style. In the following years, I have been involved in the coordination of the interdisciplinary research on the frozen bodies and artifacts at the Catholic University of Salta, in collaboration with scholars from Argentina, the United States and Europe. I have conducted ethnoarchaeological observations on top of Aconcagua (6962 m), in addition to being the first woman on the summit of Mt. Pissis (6882 m) - one of the two highest volcanoes in the world. For my anthropological research on sacred mountains I have ascended peaks in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Greece, Norway, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia and Nepal. I have also documented mountain pilgrimages in the high Andes of Peru and northern Argentina.