Sacred Mountains: Passion and Project

MARÍA CONSTANZA CERUTI

Perth

Conferencia; III International Conference on Mountains - Mountains of Our Future Earth; 2015

University of the Highlands and Islands

As a high altitude archaeologist the author of this presentation has climbed more than one hundred mountain peaks above 5000 meters in South America. She has conducted scientific excavations at the highest archaeological site in the world and has co-discovered and studied three frozen mummies of the Inca civilization, among the best preserved ever found (Ceruti 2003, 2014a, 2014b; Reinhard and Ceruti 2011). The results of her research in the Andes have been presented in dozens of papers that she has published on the archaeology and ethnohistory of the highest peaks in South America (Ceruti 1999, 2004a, 2004b, 2005, 2008).In recent years she has been active in the exploration of peaks that are considered emblematic or sacred in different parts of the world, and she has documented pilgrimages and rituals that deepen our understanding of local beliefs about the symbolic and cultural significance of mountains (Ceruti 2012b, 2013a). She has published papers about shamanism and Scandinavian mountains (Ceruti 2009), peak sanctuaries of the Minoan civilization in Crete (Ceruti 2013b), sacred mountains and mounds of the Cherokee (Ceruti 2012a), volcanoes and rock art sites in Hawaii (Ceruti 2010), mountains in New Zealand and their role in Maori genealogy (Ceruti 2015a), mountaineering and practical spirituality (Ceruti 2014d), among others.She is currently writing a series of books on sacred mountains which cover topics as diverse as the volcanoes in Easter Island (Ceruti 2015d) and Costa Rica (Ceruti 2015b), or the sacred hills in Thailand (Ceruti 2014c), Galicia (Ceruti 2015e) and the Basque Country in Spain (Ceruti 2015c). This presentation offers an overview of the diversity of landscapes and cultures that are the focus of her unique research project on sacred mountains.REFERENCESCeruti, María Constanza1999 Cumbres Sagradas del Nororeste Argentino. EUDEBA. Buenos Aires.2003 Llullaillaco: Sacrificios y Ofrendas en un Santuario Inca de Alta Montaña. EUCASA. Salta.2004a Arqueología de Alta Montaña en La Rioja. EUCASA. Salta.2004b Human bodies as objects of dedication at Inca mountain shrines (north-western Argentina). World Archaeology 36 (1):103-122. Oxford2005 A la sombra del volcán Licancabur: santuarios de altura en los cerros Toco, Juriques y Laguna Verde. Xama 15-18 (2002-2005): 301-313.2008 Panorama de los santuarios Inca de alta montaña en Argentina. Arqueología y Sociedad Nº 18: 211-228. Lima.2009 Haldis, sieides y noaidis: montañas, lugares sagrados y shamanes en la Religiosidad Saami (Laponia Noruega). Jornadas de Estudios Indígenas y Coloniales. UNJU. Jujuy.2010 Arte rupestre y volcanes sagrados de Hawaii. VIII Simposio Internacional de Arte Rupestre. Instituto de Arqueología y Museo. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán.Ceruti, María Constanza2012a Montañas Sagradas y Montículos Ceremoniales de los Cherokee. Mitológicas XXVII: 9-20. CAEA. (Centro Argentino de Etnología Americana). Buenos Aires.2012b Andean Mountains and Funerary Rituals. Latin American Indian Literatures Journal. Vol. 28 N° 1: 1-27. Penn State Greater Allegheny.2013a Procesiones andinas en alta montaña. Peregrinaje a cerros sagrados del Norte de Argentina y del Sur de Perú. EUCASA. Salta.2013b Santuarios de altura en Creta: una mirada a las montañas sagradas de la civilización minoica. Cuadernos Universitarios N° 6:5-17. EUCASA. Salta.2014a Paleopathological Overview of the Inca Frozen Mummies from Mount Llullaillaco (Argentina). Journal of Glacial Archaeology. Volume 1.1: 79-97.2014b Embajadores del Pasado: los niños del Llullaillaco y otras momias del mundo. Edición ampliada y corregida. Mundo Editorial. Salta2014c Montañas Sagradas de Tailandia. Mundo Editorial. Salta2014d Practical Spirituality and Sacred Mountains. Ghandi Marg Volume 36 N° 4: 615-630. Gandhi Peace Foundation. New Delhi.2015a Volcanes Sagrados y Genealogía entre los Maoríes de Nueva Zelanda y otros pueblos de Polinesia. Boletín del Centro de Estudios Genealógicos de Salta N° 9:65-88. Salta.2015b Volcanes Sagrados en Costa Rica. Mundo Editorial. Salta.2015c Montañas Sagradas en el País Vasco. Mundo Editorial. Salta2015d Volcanes Sagrados en Isla de Pascua. Mundo Editorial. Salta.2015e El Camino de Santiago y las Montañas Sagradas de Galicia. Mundo Editorial. Salta.Reinhard, Johan and Maria Constanza Ceruti2011 Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains: a study of the world´s highest archaeological sites. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. UCLA. Los Angeles