Constanza Ceruti facts for kids

María Constanza Ceruti (born January 11, 1973, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine anthropologist and mountaineer. She is famous for being the first woman in the world to specialize in high-altitude archaeology. This means she studies ancient sites found on the very tops of tall mountains.

Constanza Ceruti has explored more than 80 different sites, many of them with National Geographic teams. Her work has taken her to the Andes mountains in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. Her most important discovery is the Children of Llullaillaco, which are considered the best-preserved mummies in the world by the Guinness World Records.

She is also a researcher for the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina. She founded and directs the Institute of High Mountain Research and teaches Inca Archaeology at the Catholic University of Salta (UCASAL). She is a pioneer in studying sacred mountains around the world and in a new field called glacial archaeology.

Becoming a High-Altitude Archaeologist

Constanza Ceruti was born in Buenos Aires on January 11, 1973. She studied at the University of Buenos Aires, where she earned a degree in anthropology in 1996. In 2001, she received her doctorate from the National University of Cuyo. She was the first person ever to get a degree specializing in high-altitude archaeology.

Her Work and Adventures

Constanza Ceruti is a professor of Inca Archaeology at the Catholic University of Salta. She also leads the Institute of High Mountain Investigations there. She is a researcher for Argentina's National Council for Scientific Research (CONICET).

Her research often takes her to places that no one has explored before. She has climbed over 100 mountains that are higher than 5,000 meters (about 16,400 feet) for her studies. Some of her most important climbs include:

• Aconcagua (6,962 meters or 22,841 feet) in 1996 and 1997.
• Pissis volcano (6,792 meters or 22,283 feet).
• Llullaillaco volcano in 1999.
• Cerro Meléndez (6,020 meters or 19,751 feet) in 1998.
• Cachi (5,896 meters or 19,344 feet) in 1996 and 1997.
• Quehuar in 1996 and 1999.

She has written 25 books and over 100 scientific papers. Four of her books are about high-mountain archaeology in the Andes.

Challenges of High-Altitude Research

The work Constanza Ceruti does at high altitudes is very difficult and dangerous. She has described the challenges:

Climbing high mountains needs a lot of physical strength. The hiking days are usually very long, sometimes more than twenty hours. You walk on steep ground in extreme weather. The high mountain environment has little oxygen, low air pressure, strong icy winds, snow, and thunderstorms. The extreme cold freezes camera batteries and fingertips in seconds. The wind can blow away notebook pages or even tents. Lack of oxygen affects your brain, reducing concentration by up to 50%. But an archaeologist's work needs a lot of focus.

In 1998, Ceruti worked with Johan Reinhard on an archaeological dig on the Misti volcano in Peru. They found the remains of six human sacrifices that were over 500 years old.

In 1999, Ceruti and Johan Reinhard led four more expeditions in the Andes. On Nevado Quehuar, they found the remains of a mummified child. Treasure hunters had blasted open the grave and stolen ceremonial items. The researchers carefully collected the scattered body parts.

The Children of Llullaillaco

Archaeological site at the top of Llullaillaco

A few weeks later, Ceruti, Reinhard, and a National Geographic team climbed the Llullaillaco volcano in Argentina. Llullaillaco is the highest archaeological site in the world, at 6,739 meters (about 22,110 feet). During their long dig, they found the perfectly preserved mummies of three Inca children: a boy and two girls.

With the children, they found many valuable Inca objects. These included ceramic pots, wooden cups, woven bags, shells, sandals, moccasins, clothing, jewelry, and small female figurines. These mummies are considered some of the best-preserved mummies in the world. A special museum, the Museum of High Mountain Archeology of Salta (MAAM), was built to house them.

For six years, Constanza Ceruti and others studied these mummified children. They learned about the children's lives, ages, and how they died.

• The youngest girl, about six years old, died from fluid in her lungs because of the high altitude. Her mummy was later struck by lightning.
• The boy, about seven, died from being exposed to the cold.
• The oldest girl, about fifteen, also died from exposure.
• DNA tests showed they were not related to each other.

Ceruti's detailed notes from the discovery site helped researchers understand the capacocha ritual better. This was an important Inca ceremony.

The children were healthy before they died and had enough food, suggesting they came from important families. Analysis of their hair showed they ate a special corn-based diet in their last year. They also ate coca leaves, which can help with high-altitude sickness. Their clothes and artifacts showed they came from Cuzco, Peru, which was thousands of miles away. This means they traveled for months to reach the high Andes where they died.

Constanza Ceruti's discovery is told in her biography, Donde el cielo besa la tierra Biografía de Constanza Ceruti la Arqueóloga de Alta Montaña que descubrió las Momias del Llullaillaco by Gloria Lisé.

Pucará de Tilcara

After getting her doctorate in 2001, Ceruti lived for five years near Pucará de Tilcara. This was an ancient fort built around the 12th century by the Omaguaca people. It became an important center for the Incas and later the Spanish. Living there helped Ceruti understand the local village life and its connections to ancient traditions.

Awards and Honors

Constanza Ceruti has received many important awards for her work:

• 1997: Mountaineer of the Year (Montañista del Año).
• 2000: The Argentine Army gave her its highest mountain award, the Golden Condor Honoris Causa. She was the first woman to receive it.
• 2005: Named an Emerging Explorer by the National Geographic Society.
• 2006: Received the Prince of Asturias Award in Communication and Humanities on behalf of the National Geographic Society.
• 2007: Won the WINGS Women of Discovery Award for Courage.
• 2010: Named Woman of the Year (Mujer Destacada de Salta) in Salta.
• 2011: Received the Silver Clover Award (Trébol de Plata) from the Rotary Club of Buenos Aires.
• 2014: Given an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Moravian College, Pennsylvania.
• 2017: Awarded the Gold Medal by the International Society of Woman Geographers (ISWG).
• 2019: Became a Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Buenos Aires (ANCBA).

See also

In Spanish: Constanza Ceruti para niños