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This sandy Pacific coastline was one source of seaweed, which was found in what may have been an ancient medicinal hut at Monte Verde, Chile. Credit: T.D. Dillehay |
New Evidence from Earliest Known Human Settlement in the Americas Supports Coastal Migration Theory
Archeologists publish findings in May 9 issue of Science
AUSTIN, Texas -May 9, 2008- New evidence from the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile confirms its status as one of the earliest known human settlement in the Americas and provides additional support for the theory that one early migration route followed the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago.
A team of anthropologists, geologists and botanists, which included researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University, Universidad Austral de Chile, and Ithaca College, reported their findings in the May 9 issue of the journal Science. Michael B. Collins of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, a specialist in the study of stone tools, has been a member of this research team since 1979.
The research, which includes the first new data reported from the site during the past 10 years, identifies nine species of seaweed and marine algae recovered from hearths and other areas in the ancient settlement. The seaweed samples were directly dated between 14,220 to 13,980 years ago. The Monte Verde site, discovered in 1976, is located in a peat bog about 500 miles south of Santiago and has revealed well-preserved ruins of a small settlement of 20 to 30 people living in a dozen huts along a small creek. A wide variety of food, including extinct species of llama and an elephant-like animal called a gomphothere, shellfish, vegetables and nuts have been found at the site. .
In 1979, when Tom Dillehay, anthropology professor at Vanderbilt, and his colleagues first reported that the radiocarbon dating of the bones and charcoal found at Monte Verde returned dates of more than 14,000 years before the present, it stirred up a major controversy because it appeared to conflict with archaeological evidence of the settlement of North America.
Since the turn of the century, the prevailing theory had been that human colonization began at the end of the last Ice Age about 13,000 years ago, when groups of big game hunters, called the Clovis culture, followed game herds from Siberia to Alaska over a land bridge across the Bering Strait and then gradually spread southward. None of the Clovis artifacts were dated earlier than 13,000 years ago. So having a substantially older human settlement in southern Chile was difficult to reconcile with this view. It wasn't until 1997 that the controversy was resolved by a prominent group of archaeologists, who reviewed the evidence, visited the Monte Verde site and unanimously approved the dating.
Most scholars now believe that people first entered the hemisphere through the Bering land bridge more than 17,000 years ago and then spread rapidly down the coast. The general view is that the early immigrants would have spread down the coast much faster than they could move inland because they could exploit familiar coastal resources more readily and get much of their food from the sea. However, evidence to support the coastal migration theory has been particularly hard to find because sea levels at the time were about 200 feet lower than today: As the sea level rose, it would have covered most of the early coastal settlements.
According to the researchers, the new Monte Verde findings provide additional support for the coastal migration theory but, at the same time, raise the possibility that the process may have been considerably slower than currently envisioned.
At the time it was inhabited, Monte Verde was situated on a small tributary of a large river. It was about 400 feet above sea level and located more than 50 miles from the coast and about 10 miles from a large marine bay. Despite its inland location, the researchers identified a total of nine different species of seaweed and algae in the material collected at the site: material that the Monte Verdeans must have brought from the coast and the bay. The researchers have also found a variety of other beach or coastal resources, including flat beach pebbles, water plants from brackish estuaries and bitumen.
"Finding seaweed wasn't a surprise, but finding five new species in the abundance that we found them was a surprise," said 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."
In addition, the scientists have found a number of inland resources, such as llama and gomphothere meat, vegetables and nuts, in the ancient village. This suggests that the group was moving back and forth between different ecological zones, a process called transhumance.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Cientifico y Tecnológica, the National Geographic Society and the Universidad de Chile.
Contact:
Michael Collins
Research Associate, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory
512-471- 5992
m.b.collins@mail.utexas.edu
Christian Clarke Casarez
Director of Public Affairs, College of Liberal Arts
512-471-4945
christianc@mail.utexas.edu