14,000-year-old campsite studied in Chile
Friday, 09 May 2008 16:00
The site is located 500 miles south of Santiago
New evidence from an archaeological site in Monte Verde, Chile, has confirmed its status as the earliest known settlement in the Americas.
And there is support for the theory that early migration followed the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago.
The report published in the journal Science today identifies seaweed and marine algae from hearths and other areas found in the ancient settlement dating to between 14,220 to 13,980 years ago.
The findings show the site was occupied more than 1,000 years earlier than any other reliably dated human settlements in the Americas.
The Monte Verde site was first discovered in 1976 in a well-preserved condition due to its location within a peat bog 500 miles south of Santiago.
"Finding seaweed wasn't a surprise, but finding five new species in the abundance that we found them was a surprise," said Vanderbilt University professor of anthropology, Tom Dillehay.
"There are other coastal resources at the site. The Monte Verdeans were really like beachcombers: The number and frequency of these items suggests very frequent contact with the coast, as if they had a tradition of exploiting coastal resources."
The report describes how scientists also found a number of inland resources in the ancient village, suggesting its people were moving between different ecological zones, a process known as transhumance.
"It takes time to adapt to these inland resources and then come back out to the coast. The other coastal sites that we have found also show inland contacts," Mr Dillehay added.
"If all the early American groups were following a similar pattern of moving back and forth between inland and coastal areas, then the peopling of the Americas may not have been the blitzkrieg movement to the south that people have presumed, but a much slower and more deliberate process."