Museum of High Altitude Archaeology (MAAM)
Salta museum holding the Llullaillaco children and other Inca offerings from Andean summits.
The provincial government founded the museum to care for material recovered in 1999 from the summit of the Llullaillaco volcano, at about 6,700 metres on the border with Chile. An expedition there found three Inca children, frozen and remarkably preserved, together with the figurines, textiles and vessels buried with them in a capacocha rite some five hundred years ago. The museum opened on 19 November 2004 in a historic building on the Plaza 9 de Julio in central Salta.
Displaying the children required a purpose-built system of sealed, refrigerated cases that reproduce the conditions of the summit; it was finished in 2007. Only one child is shown at a time, and the display rotates for conservation reasons. Other rooms cover the Qhapaq Ñan road network, the Chuscha or Reina del Cerro mummy received in 2006 and the Teruel collection acquired in 2005. Indigenous organisations in the region have objected to the exhibition of the remains.
Highlights
- Inca children recovered from the summit of Llullaillaco in 1999
- Purpose-built refrigerated cases reproducing summit conditions
- One child displayed at a time, rotated for conservation
- Rooms on the Qhapaq Ñan road and the Reina del Cerro mummy
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