US EditionStudy suggests younger age for Chile's important Monte Verde archaeological site
New geological analysis suggests human occupation at Monte Verde occurred 4,200–8,600 years ago, challenging its status as the earliest South American site, researchers say.
- A study suggests the Monte Verde archaeological site in Chile dates to between 4,200 and 8,200 years ago, much more recent than the 14,500 years old previously thought.
- Researchers used three scientific dating methods on material from Monte Verde to arrive at the new age estimate.
- The new findings make Monte Verde irrelevant to the debate about when humans first entered the Americas, as it is now considered too recent.
22 Articles
22 Articles
The analysis of the finds in Monte Verde in Chile has aroused special interest for decades. They should prove that America had already been inhabited more than 14,500 years ago. But a new investigation comes to completely different findings. Do textbooks have to be rewritten?
In the lower mountain ranges of southern Chile, south-west of Puerto Montt, is the archaeological site Monte Verde, which until today was thought to be the oldest settlement in the whole continent. Prior to its discovery in 1980, archaeologists proposed that the first inhabitants of America belonged to the Clovis culture and had arrived on the continent 10,500 years ago, by Central America, in what is now New Mexico, expanding further south of t…
Researchers dispute the age of Monte Verde in Chile. What does this mean for theories about the first Americans? Read more about the controversy.
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