Study dates Monte Verde to 6‑8 kyr, erasing pre‑Clovis claim
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- Dr. Todd Surovell led a team that re‑examined Monte Verde and concluded the site is only 6,000‑8,000 years old, attributing the earlier dating to soil erosion that mixed newer artifacts into older strata.
- Monte Verde was originally dated to about 14,500 years ago, making it a pre‑Clovis outlier that challenged the north‑to‑south migration hypothesis.
- Tom Dillehay and his colleagues first excavated Monte Verde between 1977 and 1985, and their findings were later validated by a multidisciplinary team before the new study questioned the age.
- Science published the new research on Thursday, presenting the revised chronology and its implications for the debate over early human settlement of the Americas.
- Clovis culture remains the dominant model for human entry into the western hemisphere (13,400‑12,800 years ago), and the revised Monte Verde age restores its central role in the settlement narrative.
- Other pre‑Clovis sites from Mexico to north‑west Argentina and Uruguay have been reported but remain unverified, prompting Surovell to call for independent re‑examination of these claims.
Why it matters: The revised 6‑8 kyr age of Monte Verde eliminates its role as a pre‑Clovis outlier, bolstering the long‑standing view that humans entered the Americas via the Clovis corridor. Archaeologists lose a pivotal counter‑example, while proponents of the north‑to‑south migration model gain renewed support for their framework.
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