New Research Challenges Age of Famous Chilean Archaeological Site

Fresh scientific analysis suggests Chile's Monte Verde archaeological site is thousands of years younger than previously believed. The controversial findings could reshape theories about when humans first arrived in the Americas.

A Chilean archaeological site that transformed scientific understanding of early human migration to the Americas may be far younger than researchers initially determined, according to new findings published Thursday.

Monte Verde, uncovered in the 1970s in southern Chile, was previously dated to approximately 14,500 years old based on testing conducted in 1997. That age made the ancient hunter-gatherer settlement a cornerstone in debates about when people first populated the Western Hemisphere.

However, University of Wyoming archaeologist Todd Surovell and his research team now believe the Ice Age creek valley site actually dates between 4,200 and 8,200 years ago – making it significantly more recent.

“This finding suggests a later date of human arrival to the Americas than is widely believed,” Surovell stated in the study published in Science journal.

The research team employed three different scientific dating techniques on materials collected from Monte Verde and surrounding areas. The site sits roughly 36 miles inland from Chile’s Pacific coastline.

“We sampled in the site area. We also sampled the same landforms upstream and downstream of the site,” Surovell explained. “These landforms are continuous throughout the valley, and our dating of them was consistent in all locations. We placed these into stratigraphic (soil and rock layers) context, and the dating errors of the previous investigators were immediately apparent.”

The original 14,500-year dating would have made Monte Verde more than 1,500 years older than North America’s Clovis culture sites, which were previously considered the earliest evidence of human occupation south of continental ice sheets. The Clovis culture, named after a New Mexico location, is recognized for its distinctive stone tool craftsmanship.

Monte Verde’s supposed greater age and location thousands of miles south of Clovis sites led scientists to theorize that humans reached the Americas much earlier than Clovis evidence suggested. The prevailing theory holds that humans migrated from Siberia to Alaska via an Ice Age land bridge before traveling southward.

The current research analyzed wood fragments, creek-deposited sand, and ancient volcanic ash layers. Surovell emphasized the volcanic ash dating as particularly significant.

Testing revealed the ash was deposited approximately 11,000 years ago in a layer beneath human occupation evidence, indicating people arrived after that timeframe, according to Surovell.

Based on the new age range, Surovell estimates Monte Verde’s human occupation most likely occurred 6,000 to 8,000 years ago.

The earlier age calculation relied on radiocarbon dating of recovered wood. While Surovell confirmed the wood was indeed 14,500 years old, he argues it predated human presence and was simply mixed with older materials caught in creek banks.

“Imagine the stream undercutting the bank as it meanders in the valley. Materials in the bank then get transported and redeposited by the stream,” Surovell described.

Vanderbilt University anthropologist Tom Dillehay, who has researched Monte Verde extensively since the 1970s, strongly disputed the new study’s conclusions, citing “many methodological and empirical errors.”

Dillehay argued the wood interpretation “disregards a vast body of well-dated cultural evidence associated with Monte Verde, including stone tools, wooden and bone artifacts, edible plant remains including seaweed and potatoes, hearths, human footprints, and animal meat and hide remains.”

“These and other elements constitute a complex cultural context that has been extensively documented over five decades of interdisciplinary archaeological research,” Dillehay stated. “In turning to their data, it is a mixture of inventions and misunderstandings. They saw what they wanted to see, and came to the site with predetermined conclusions.”

The timing of human arrival in the Americas continues to spark scientific debate.

“Monte Verde is internationally recognized as one of the most significant archaeological sites on the American continent, having played a decisive role in replacing the longstanding ‘Clovis First’ paradigm,” Dillehay noted, referencing the theory that America’s first inhabitants arrived around 12,800 years ago.

Surovell maintained that the new findings place Monte Verde after Clovis sites chronologically.

“The Monte Verde site is still important for understanding the Holocene (geological epoch, beginning 11,700 years ago) human occupation of its region, but it no longer has much significance for understanding the initial peopling of the Americas,” Surovell concluded.