Johan Reinhard

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Dr. Johan Reinhard is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at The Mountain Institute, West Virginia, a Visiting Professor at Catholic University, Salta, Argentina, and an Honorary Professor of Catholic University, Arequipa, Peru. [1]

Born Dec. 13, 1943 in Joliet, Illinois, he began his undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona, before going on to receive his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Vienna, Austria (1974). Much of Dr. Reinhard's current research focuses on the sacred beliefs and cultural practices of mountain peoples, especially in the Andes and the Himalayas. He has conducted anthropological field research since 1980 in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. His investigations have led him to present theories to explain the mystery of the Nazca Lines (giant desert drawings), pre-Hispanic ceremonial sites built on Andean mountain summits, and the ancient ceremonial centers of Machu Picchu, Chavin, and Tiahuanaco. During 1989-92 he directed an underwater archaeological research project in Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake, that resulted in the discovery of rare Inca and Tiahuanaco artifacts.

While making over 200 ascents in the Andes, he led expeditions resulting in the discovery of more than 40 high altitude Inca ritual sites. He directed teams that recovered four Inca human sacrifices on Ampato (6,312 m) in southern Peru, including the Mummy Juanita (the "Ice Maiden").^[1] . His expeditions in the Andes during 1996-1999 led to the discovery of fourteen more Inca human sacrifices on five mountains above 5,500 m. In 1999 he directed the excavations of three perfectly preserved mummies at 6,739 m (22,109 feet) on Llullaillaco, the world’s highest archaeological site. In 1995 and 1999 Time selected Dr. Reinhard's finds as among “the world's ten most important scientific discoveries” of those years.

He has lived more than ten years in the Himalayas, conducting anthropological research primarily in Nepal, but he has also undertaken investigations in Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, and the Garhwal Himalaya. Elsewhere in Asia he has studied Muslim fishermen in the Maldive Islands (Indian Ocean). During his stay in Nepal, he directed Peace Corps Training Projects and was a member of the successful 1976 American Everest Expedition. While living in Austria, Dr. Reinhard participated in an underwater archaeological study of a Neolithic site at Mondsee. He was also a member of teams which undertook nautical archaeological research of Roman shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea off southern Italy and of an Iron Age Villanovan village in an Italian lake (Lago di Bolsena). He has climbed sacred mountains and investigated traditional religious beliefs in Greece and in Bali, Indonesia. He has served as a cinematographer for the BBC, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Scientific Film Institute of Germany, and his research has been featured in several TV documentaries, including National Geographic Explorer, BBC, NOVA, PBS, and Discovery. He speaks Spanish, Nepali, and German, and undertook analysis of two unwritten languages: Raji (a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal) and Kusunda, one of the world's rarest languages.

Dr. Reinhard has over seventy publications and is a member of several organizations, including the American Anthropological Association, the Explorers Club, the Institute of Andean Studies, and the Royal Geographical Society. Three museums have been built to exhibit the archeological finds made during his expeditions: the Museum of High Mountain Sanctuaries in Arequipa (Peru); the Museum of High Mountain Archaeology in Salta (Argentina); and a site museum in the village of Challapampa, Island of the Sun, Lake Titicaca (Bolivia). He has received several awards for his research in the Andes, including the Rolex Award for Enterprise in 1987, the Puma de Oro (Bolivia's highest award in the field of archaeology) in 1992, the Gold Medal of the city of Arequipa in 1996, and the Explorers Medal of the Explorers Club in 2002. In 2000 he was selected by Outside magazine as one of “today’s 25 most extraordinary explorers,” and in 2001 the Ford Motor Company chose him as one of twelve "Heroes for the Planet." His latest book The Ice Maiden: Inca Mummies, Mountain Gods, and Sacred Sites in the Andes was published in 2005.