Monte Verde Excavation Documents Pre-Clovis Habitation in Chile

Between 1977 and 1985, archaeologist Tom Dillehay of Vanderbilt University excavated the Monte Verde II site near Chinchihuapi Creek in southern Chile. The waterlogged peat bog preserved wooden structural remains, stone and bone tools, animal hides, and seaweed transported from coastlines approximately 90 kilometers away. Radiocarbon dating placed the occupation layer at approximately 14,500 years before present. In 1997, a panel of twelve archaeologists visited the site and unanimously verified the findings, providing the first widely accepted evidence of human habitation in the Americas predating the Clovis culture by over 1,000 years.