A new study questions when people first reached South America

A landmark archaeological site in Chile may be thousands of years younger than originally thought, a new study claims. If validated, the finding would upend a key piece of evidence that humans reached South America about 14,500 years ago and force a rethink of how and when the Americas were first settled.

The site, called Monte Verde, has long underpinned claims that people were living in South America more than 1,000 years before the Clovis culture, which is dated to around 13,000 years ago. But the new analysis, published March 19 in Science, suggests people lived at Monte Verde only 4,200 to 8,200 years ago.

→ Continue reading at Science News

More from author

Related posts

Advertisment

Latest posts

Earth’s continental plates were moving 3.48 billion years ago

The arid hills of Western Australia’s Pilbara region contain the earliest evidence yet of tectonic plates sliding across Earth’s surface. Tiny magnetic crystals locked...

Mortgage rates jump to highest level in more than 3 months as Iran war reignites inflation fears

The war in Iran is driving up the cost of buying a home in America. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate...

State AGs sue to block Nexstar-Tegna merger, another Trump-backed megadeal

Eight state attorneys general have filed an antitrust lawsuit to block Nexstar’s pending acquisition of Tegna, which would unite two of the largest...