Born in Illinois, Johan began his undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona, before going on to receive his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Vienna. He conducted anthropological research for more than ten years in Nepal, specializing in culture change, sacred landscape, and shamanism, and also directed Peace Corps Training Projects. Since 1980 he has undertaken historical and archaeological research in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina focusing on sacred landscape and high-altitude archaeology.

Recognition for his work has included the Rolex Award, the Golden Puma of the Bolivian Government, the Explorers Medal of the Explorers Club, and being named an Explorer-in- Residence at the National Geographic Society. Museums have been built in three countries to exhibit archeological material recovered during his expeditions, and in 1995 and 1999 Time Magazine selected his finds as among “the world’s ten most important scientific discoveries.”

His research has been featured in several TV documentaries, including National Geographic Explorer, BBC, NOVA, PB and Discovery. He has over seventy publications, including six books. He is currently updating and archiving his Andean and Himalayan research materials.

• 2016 Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Provides High-Resolution Time Scale of the Peopling of the Americas. Science Advances 2016 (2). (Co-authored with Bastien Llamas et al.) http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/4/e1501385.full
• 2016 Frozen Mummies of the Andes. Expedition 58(2): 8-12.
• 2016 A Discovery in the Andes. In The Walkabout Chronicles: Epic Journeys by Foot, Tor & Siffy Torkildson (eds.), pp. 412-426, Sacred World Explorations, Alaska.
• 2014 Andes: High-Altitude Archaeological Sites as Cultural Heritage. In Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, Claire Smith (ed.), pp. 225-230, Springer Publishers, New York.
• 2013 Archaeological, radiological, and biological evidence offer insight into Inca child sacrifice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Co-authored with A. S. Wilson, E. L. Brown, C. Villa, N. Lynnerup, A. Healey, M. C. Ceruti, J. Reinhard, C. H. Previgliano, F. A. Araoz, J. Gonzalez Diez, T. Taylor.) www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1305117110
• 2013 Inca Mummies on Andean Peaks. In The Modern Explorers, Robin Hanbury-Tenison and Robert Twigger (eds.) pp. 288-293, Thames & Hudson, London.
• 2012 Sacred Featherwork of the Inca. In Peruvian Featherworks: Art of the Precolumbian Era, Heidi King (ed.), pp. 78-87, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
• 2012 Las Montañas Sagradas y las Culturas Preincaicas de los Andes. In América: Tierras de Montañas y Volcanes. Huellas de la Arqueología. Margarita Loera Chávez y Peniche, Stanislaw Iwaniszewski, and Ricardo Cabrera (eds.), pp. 51-71, Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Historia (INAH), México, D.F.
• 2011 The Last Nomads of Nepal. Nepal Heritage 2(2): 34-38.
• 2010 Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains: A Study of the World’s Highest Archaeological Sites. (Co-authored with Constanza Ceruti), University of California (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology), Los Angeles.
• 2010 El Mistero Eterno de Machu Picchu.  In La Ciudad Inca de Machu Picchu.  David Cases- Pallares (ed.), pp. 2-3, Editorial Sol90, Buenos Aires.
• 2009 Arqueología Subacuática y Paisaje Sagrado: Investigaciones en los Lagos del Nevado de Toluca. In Las Aguas Celestiales: Nevado de Toluca, Pilar Luna, Arturo Montero, and Roberto Junco (eds.), pp. 30-31, Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Historia (INAH), México, D.F.
• 2009 Sintesis de Estudios Interdisciplinarios en las Momias Congeladas del Volcan Llullaillaco In Actas del XV Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Argentina, Antonio Austral and Marcela Tamagnini (eds.), Vol. 2: 639-645. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Argentina. (Co-authored with Constanza Ceruti, Carlos Previgliano, Josefina González, and Facundo Arias)
• 2007 Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center. UCLA (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology), Los Angeles.
• 2007 Machu Picchu: The Sacred Center. Nueves Imágenes S.A., Lima (3rd revised edition).
• 2007 Inca Mummies: Child Sacrifice on Andean Peaks. In Discovery!: Unearthing the New Treasures of Archaeology Brian Fagan (ed.), London: Thames & Hudson, pp. 100-105.
• 2007 Stable isotope and DNA evidence for ritual sequences in Inca child sacrifice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (42): 16456-16461.  (Co-authored with Andrew Wilson, Timothy Taylor, Constanza Ceruti, José Antonio Chávez, Vaughan Grimes, Wolfram-Meier- Augenstein, Larry Cartmell, Ben Stern, Michael Richards, Michael Worobey, Ian Barnes, and Thomas Gilbert)
• 2007 Mitochondrial genome sequencing of an Incan pre-Columbian mummy recovered from a Peruvian glacier ("Juanita, the Ice Maiden of Ampato).  GenBank, Accession Numbers EF660742 and EF660743.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/. (Co-authored with Keith McKenney, Tracy Spriggs, José Antonio Chávez, Hernan Lorenzi, Elizabeth Caler, Martin Shumway, Vadim Sapiro, and Claire Fraser-Liggett)
• 2007 Cloud Diving.  In They Lived to Tell the Tale: True Stories of Modern Adventure from the Legendary Explorers Club.  Jan Russell (ed.), New York: Lyons Press, pp. 231-236.
• 2005 Sacred Mountains, Ceremonial Sites, and Human Sacrifice Among the Incas.  (Co-authored with Constanza Ceruti) Archaeoastronomy 19: 1-43.
• 2005 The Ice Maiden: Inca Mummies, Mountain Gods, and Sacred Sites in the Andes. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. (Revised Paperback 2006)
• 2005 A Compositional Analysis of Pottery Vessels Associated with the Inca Ritual of Capacocha. (Co-authored with Tamara Bray, Leah Minc, Constanza Ceruti, Ruddy Perea, and José Antonio Chávez). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 24: 82-100.
• 2005 Rescue Archaeology of the Inca Mummy on Mount Quehuar, Argentina. (Co-authored with Constanza Ceruti) In Proceedings of the Fifth World Mummy Congress, Emma Massa (ed.). (LXXX Journal of Biological Research), Torino, Italy, pp. 303 -307.
• 2005 The Search for Inca Mummies. Dig 7(9): 28-30.
• 2003 Into the Hidden Crater– An Andean Adventure. Explorers Journal 81(3): 16-23.
• 2003 Radiologic Evaluation of the Llullaillaco Mummies. (Co-authored with Carlos Previgliano, Constanza Ceruti, Facundo Arias, and Josefina González). American Journal of Roentgenology 181: 1473-1479.
• 2002 Sacred Landscape: The Prehistoric Cultures of the Andes. In Extreme Landscape: The Lure of Mountain Spaces, MacDonald, Bernadette (ed.), National Geographic Society, pp. 206-225.
• 2002 Machu Picchu: The Sacred Center. Lima: Instituto Machu Picchu (2nd revised edition).
• 2002 Machu Picchu: El Centro Sagrado. Cusco: Instituto Machu Picchu.
• 2002 A High Altitude Archaeological Survey in Northern Chile. Revista Chungara 34(1): 85-99.
• 2001 Coropuna: Templo y Montaña de las Incas. Revista del Centro de Investigaciones Arqueológicas de Alta Montaña 6: 123-130.
• 2000 Investigaciones Arqueológicas en el Volcán Llullaillaco (Co-authored with Constanza Ceruti), Salta: Editorial de la Universidad Católica de Salta (EUCASAL).
• 2000 The Search for Inca Mummies. Calliope 10(7) (March): 40-43.
• 1999 Frozen in Time. National Geographic 196(5) (November): 36-55.
• 1999 Machu Picchu. National Geographic Traveler (special issue) 16(7) (October): 232-233.
• 1999 Coropuna: Lost Mountain Temple of the Incas. South American Explorers Journal 58:5, 26-30.
• 1998 New Inca Mummies. National Geographic 194(1) (July): 128-135.
• 1998 Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden. Washington, D.C: National Geographic Society.
• 1998 The Temple of Blindness: An Investigation of the Inca Shrine of Ancocagua. Andean Past 5: 87-106.
• 1997 Die Geschichte der Mumie. Geo (special issue), October, pp. 78-84.
• 1997 Sharp Eyes of Science Probe the Mummies of Peru. National Geographic 191(1) (January): 36-43.
• 1997 La Medicina Entra en la Intimidad de las Momias Incas. GEO (Spain) 128 (September): 88-95.
• 1997 Llullaillaco: Investigación del Yacimiento Arqueológico más Alto del Mundo. Anales de Arqueología y Etnología, Mendoza (Argentina) 48/49: 105-129.
• 1996 Peru’s Ice Maidens. National Geographic 189(6) (June): 62-81.
• 1996 El Eterno Regreso de las Momias. GEO (Spain) 118 (November): 106-117.
• 1996 The Lore of a Desert Dive. Americas 48(4): 30-37.
• 1996 The Enigmatic Nazca Lines: Sacred Symbols on the Land. Site Saver: The Newsletter of Sacred Sites International Foundation 6(3): 2, 5, 7.
• 1995 House of the Sun: The Inca Temple of Vilcanota. Latin American Antiquity 6(4): 340- 349.
• 1993 Llullaillaco: An Investigation of the World's Highest Archaeological Site. Latin American Indian Languages Journal 9(1): 31-54.
• 1992 Review of Peru: Hombre e historia de los orígenes al siglo XV, by Duccio Bonavia. Latin American Antiquity 3(4): 368-369.
• 1992 Exploraciones Arqueológicas Subacuáticas en el Lago Titikaka, (Co-authored with Carlos Ponce, Eduardo Pareja, Max Portugal, and Leocadio Ticlla), La Paz: Editorial La Palabra.
• 1992 Investigaciones arqueológicas subacuáticas en el lago Titicaca. In Exploraciones Arqueológicas Subacuáticas en el Lago Titikaka, Carlos Ponce (et al), La Paz: Editorial La Palabra, pp. 419-530.
• 1992 Sacred Peaks of the Andes. National Geographic 181(3)(March): 84-111.
• 1992 Misterios del Lago Titicaca: Arqueología Bajo las Olas. In Guía Cultural y Turística de Bolivia, P.McFarren (ed.), La Paz: Fundación Cultural Quipus, pp. 243-274.
• 1992 Tiahuanaco, Centro Sagrado de los Andes. In Guía Cultural y Turística de Bolivia, P. McFarren (ed.), La Paz: Fundación Cultural Quipus, pp. 203-242.
• 1992 Underwater Archaeological Research in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. In Ancient America: Contributions to New World Archaeology, N. Saunders (ed.), Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 117-143.
• 1992 An Archaeological Investigation of Inca Ceremonial Platforms on the Volcano Copiapo, Central Chile. In Ancient America: Contributions to New World Archaeology, N. Saunders (ed.), Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 145-172.
• 1992 Studies of Nazca. Archaeoastronomy 17: S62-S67, Cambridge.
• 1991 Shangri-la and the Hidden Valleys. In Insight Guides Nepal, Lisa Choegyal (ed.), Singapore: APA Publications, pp. 256-259.

• 1991 Machu Picchu: The Sacred Center. Lima: Nuevas Imágenes.
• 1990 Heights of Interest. South American Explorer 26: 24-29.
• 1990 Tiahuanaco, Sacred Center of the Andes. In The Cultural Guide of Bolivia, P. McFarren (ed.), La Paz: Fundación Cultural Quipus, pp. 151-181.
• 1990 Mysteries of Lake Titicaca: Archaeology Beneath the Waves. In The Cultural Guide of Bolivia, P. McFarren (ed.), La Paz: Fundación Cultural Quipus, pp. 183-203.
• 1990 Informe sobre una sección del camino Inca y las ruinas en la cresta que baja del nevado de Tucarhuay entre los ríos Aobamba y Santa Teresa. Revista Sacsahuaman 3: 163-187, Cusco.
• 1988 The Nazca Lines: A New Perspective on their Origin and Meaning, Lima: Editorial Los Pinos (4 th revised edition).
• 1988 The Nazca Lines, Water and Mountains: An Ethno-archaeological Study. In Recent Studies in Pre-Columbian Archaeology, N. Saunders and O. de Montmollin (eds.), Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp. 363-414.
• 1987  Las Lineas de Nazca: Un Nuevo Enfoque sobre in Origen y Significado. Lima: Editorial Los Pinos (1st Spanish edition) (2nd revised edition 1988).
• 1987 Chavín y Tiahuanaco: Una Nueva Perspectiva de Dos Centros Ceremoniales Andinos. Boletín de Lima 50: 29-49 and 51: 35-52.
• 1987 The Hidden Crater: Expedition to an Unexplored Plateau of Western Argentina. Optima 35 (4): 219-227, South Africa.
• 1987 The Sacred Himalaya. American Alpine Journal 29: 123-132.
• 1985 Chavin and Tiahuanaco: A New Look at Two Andean Ceremonial Centers. National Geographic Research 1(3): 395-422, Washington, D.C.
• 1985 Sacred Mountains: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of High Andean Ruins. Mountain Research and Development 5(4): 299-317.
• 1985 The Nazca Lines: A New Perspective on their Origin and Meaning, Lima: Editorial Los Pinos (1st edition).
• 1985 Author’s reports of 40 archaeological sites appeared in El Enigma de los Santuarios Indígenas de Alta Montaña, Antonio Beorchia (compiler), San Juan: CIADAM.
• 1983 Las Montañas Sagradas: Un Estudio Etnoarqueológico de Ruinas en las Altas Cumbres Andinas. Cuadernos de Historia 3: 27-62, Santiago.
• 1983 Las Líneas de Nazca, Montañas y Fertilidad. Boletín de Lima 26: 29-50, Lima.
• 1983 High-Altitude Archaeology and Andean Mountain Gods. American Alpine Journal 25: 54-67.
• 1982 Expedición Arqueológica al Altiplano de Tarapacá y sus Cumbres. Revista de Corporación para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia 2(2): 17-42, Santiago (with Julio Sanhueza).
• 1981 Expedición Arqueológica al Volcán Licancabur. Revista de Corporación para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia 1(4): 31-38, Santiago (with Ana Maria Baron).
• 1981 Notas Sobre la Arqueología Subacuatica del Titicaca. Hoy 12(4): 3, La Paz.
• 1981 The Chonos of the Chilean Archipelago. Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research 23: 89-98, Vienna.
• 1980 Ascensión al Volcán Licancabur y Otros Nevados Revista del Centro de Investigaciones Arqueológicos de Alta Montaña 4: 41-44, San Juan (with George Serracino and Ana Maria Barón).
• 1980 Ruinas arqueológicas sobre la cima del Volcán Paniri. Revista del Centro de Investigaciones Arqueológicas de Alta Montaña 4: 17-18, San Juan (with George Serracino).
• 1978 Khembalung: The Hidden Valley. Kailash, A Journal of Himalayan Studies 6(1): 5-35, Kathmandu.
• 1978 Nepal Cross-Cultural Trainers Manual (with Lewis Underwood and Bishnu Shrestha), New Educational Research Associates: Kathmandu.
• 1977 Raute (Nepal)-Camp Scenes and Bartering. Publications to Scientific Films of the Institute for Scientific Film, Series 7(42), 6 pp., Göttingen.
• 1977 Raji (Nepal)-Shaman Initiation. Publications to Scientific Films of the Institute for Scientific Film Series 7(42), 9 pp., Göttingen.
• 1977 Raji (Nepal)-Divination and Magical Treatment of an Illness. Publications to Scientific Films of the Institute for Scientific Film Series 7(41), 8 pp., Göttingen.
• 1977 Kusunda (Nepal)-Consecration of Hunting Equipment. Publications to Scientific Films of the Institute for Scientific Film Series 7(40), 7 pp., Göttingen.
• 1977 Kusunda (Nepal)-Construction of a Lean-To during Hunting. Publications to Scientific Films of the Institute for Scientific Film Series 7(39), 7 pp., Göttingen.
• 1977 Newar, Kumhale Caste (Nepal)-Pottery- Making. Publications to Scientific Films of the Institute for Scientific Film Series 7(38), 9 pp., Göttingen.
• 1977 Newar, Udhas Caste (Nepal)-Construction of a Water Pipe. Publications to Scientific Films of the Institute for Scientific Film Series 7(37), 7 pp., Göttingen.
• 1976 The Ban Rajas: A Vanishing Tribe. Contributions to Nepalese Studies 4(1): 1-22, Kathmandu.
• 1976 Shamanism and Spirit Possession: The Definition Problem. In Spirit Possession in the Nepal Himalayas, J. Hitchcock & R. Jones (eds.), New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, pp. 12-20.
• 1976 Shamanism among the Raji of Southwest Nepal. In Spirit Possession in the Nepal Himalayas, J. Hitchcock & R. Jones (eds.), New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, pp. 263-292.
• 1974 Underwater Archaeology in Austria: A Preliminary Report. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration 3(2): 320, London.
• 1974 The Raute: Notes on a Nomadic Hunting and Gathering Tribe of Nepal. Kailash, A Journal of Himalayan Studies 2(4): 233-271, Kathmandu.
• 1973 Deskriptive Analyse von Schamanismus und Hexerei bei den Purbia Raji Sudwest– Nepals, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Vienna, 302 pp.
• 1972 Report on an Unclassified and a Dravidian Language in Nepal. Wiener Linguistische Gazette 1: 33-34, Vienna.
• 1970 Preliminary Linguistic Analysis and Vocabulary of the Kusunda Language. Summer Institute of Linguistics, Kathmandu, 31 pp. (with Sueyoshi Toba).
• 1970 The Dhangar: A Dravidian Tribe in Nepal. Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research 12: 91-94, Vienna.
• 1969 Preliminary Report on Wood Working in Nepal. Anzeiger der philosophische- historischen Klasse der Osterreichischen Akadamie der Wissenschaften 106: 110-115, Vienna.
• 1969 Preliminary Report on Pottery Making in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Anzeiger der philosophische- historischen Klasse der Osterreichischen Akadamie der Wissenschaften 106: 115-130, Vienna.
• 1969 Aperçu sur les Kusunda: peuple chasseur du Népal. Objets et Mondes 9(1): 89-106, Paris.
• 1969 Research with the Raji in Western Nepal: A Brief Summary. Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research 11: 33- 34, Vienna.
• 1968 The Kusunda: Ethnographic Notes on a Hunting Tribe of Nepal. Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research10: 95- 110, Vienna.