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A significant paleolithic archaeological site located in southern Chile, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) inland from the Pacific coast. Known as one of the oldest known human habitation sites in the Americas. It is called Monte Verde.

The site was discovered when a veterinary student visited the area in 1975. Due to logging where severe erosion was occurring. The student was shown a strange “cow bone” collected by nearby farmers
The bone later proved to be from Notiomastodon, a gomphothere related to modern elephants.

Tom Dillehay, an American anthropologist and professor at the Universidad Austral de Chile at the time, started excavating Monte Verde in 1977

Monte Verde II represents a campsite with wooden tent-like structures
It was later covered by a bog, sealing the site off and preserving it. Under a layer of anerobic peat. This preservation gives us insights into the diet, environment, and daily activities of the inhabitants.

The site has evidence of medicinal plant use, food processing, and housing structures, indicating a relatively settled lifestyle

Since the sites uncovering. It has reshaped our understanding of the timing and routes of human migration into the Americas Providing evidence people arrived earlier than previously thought

It challenges the “Clovis First” theory
And, does a good job.

Researchers have found a range of artifacts, including stone tools, remnants of wooden structures, plant remains, and even animal bones

Occupants of the site made rope and utilized animal skins, and consumed a variety of plant foods, including seaweed, tubers, seeds, fruits and nuts

Remains at the site show that the occupants also butchered now extinct megafauna
including the gomphothere, Notiomastodon, and llama Palaeolama.

Did you know? The site also contains an older, more controversial layer. It is called Monte Verde I, and has a suggested to date to 18,500 years.

Discoveries highlight that humans may have traveled along the Pacific coast, possibly using boats or coastal routes

Monte Verde has become a pivotal site for understanding early migration to the western hemisphere. Suggesting more complex and diverse set of factors. Including patterns of movement and theories that predates earlier models.

Bibliography:
“Ancient seaweed chews confirm age of Chilean site” (https://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN0839099920080508). Reuters. 2008-05-08.

Dillehay, Tom D.; Ocampo, Carlos (November 18, 2015). “New Archaeological Evidence for an Early Human Presence at Monte Verde, Chile” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4651426). PLOS One. 10 (11): e0141923. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1041923D (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015PLoSO..1041923D). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0141923 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0141923). PMC 4651426 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4651426). PMID 26580202 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26580202).

Wade, Lizzie (2017-08-08). “Most archaeologists think the first Americans arrived by boat. Now, they’re beginning to prove it” (https://www.science.org/content/article/most-archaeologists-think-first-americans-arrived-boat-now-they-re-beginning-prove-it). Science | AAAS.

Pino, Mario; Dillehay, Tom D. (June 2023). “Monte Verde II: an assessment of new radiocarbondates and their sedimentological context” (https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003598X23000327/type/journal_article). Antiquity. 97 (393): 524–540. doi:10.15184/aqy.2023.32 (https://doi.org/10.15184%2Faqy.2023.32). ISSN 0003-598X (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0003-5
98X)