Monte Verde is a Paleolithic archaeological site located in the Llanquihue Province of southern Chile, near Puerto Montt in the Los Lagos Region. The site is most famous for Monte Verde II, which is generally believed to be about 14,500 years old. This discovery is widely accepted, though some scientists disagree, as it suggests that humans arrived in the Americas before the Clovis culture, which was previously thought to be the first human presence in the region. If true, this challenges the older "Clovis first" model, which claimed humans settled the Americas after 13,500 years ago. The site also includes Monte Verde I, a much older layer dated to about 18,500 years ago, but this layer is more controversial and not as widely accepted.
Monte Verde II appears to have been a campsite with wooden structures that were later covered by a wet, oxygen-free soil layer, preserving the site. Evidence shows the people who lived there made rope, used animal hides, and ate a variety of plants, including seaweed (even though the site was 60 kilometers from the ocean at the time), tubers, seeds, fruits, and nuts. Remains at the site also indicate that humans hunted now-extinct large animals, such as the gomphothere (a relative of elephants) Notiomastodon and the llama Palaeolama. A study by Surovell et al. (2026) suggested the campsite itself is from the middle Holocene (no older than 8,200 years ago) and that older materials found at the site were moved there later. Other scientists have disputed these findings.
Evidence from the coastal environment shows that the area could have supported human life, supporting a "coastal migration" model for how people first reached the Americas. Studies of rock surfaces and animal bones suggest the coastal region became habitable after 17,000 years ago, as glaciers melted. While testing theories about coastal migration is difficult due to rising sea levels since the last ice age, many archaeologists now consider the possibility that early humans traveled along coastlines to settle the Americas.
History
The site was discovered in late 1975 when a veterinary student visited the area of Monte Verde, where severe erosion was happening because of logging. Before logging began, the site was well preserved because of the good conditions near the Chinchihuapi Creek. The student saw a strange "cow bone" that nearby farmers had found in the eroded creek. Later, it was confirmed to belong to Notiomastodon, a type of gomphothere related to modern elephants. In 1977, Tom Dillehay, an American anthropologist and professor at the Universidad Austral de Chile, began excavating Monte Verde.
The site is located on the banks of Chinchihuapi Creek, a tributary of the Maullín River, 36 miles (58 km) from the Pacific Ocean. Monte Verde is one of the few open-air prehistoric sites found in the Americas. It was well preserved because it was in an anaerobic bog environment near the creek. Soon after the site was first used, the creek’s water level rose, creating a peat-filled bog that stopped bacteria from decaying organic material. This preserved many items, such as perishable artifacts, for thousands of years.
Radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal in 1982 showed the site was about 14,800 years old, more than 1,000 years older than the oldest-known human habitation site in the Americas at that time.
During the first excavation, two large hearths and many smaller ones were found. Remains of local animals and wooden posts from about twelve huts were discovered. Scraps of clothing made from animal hide were also found. These findings led archaeologists to estimate the population was around 20–30 people. A human footprint was also found in the clay, likely made by an adult weighing about 70 kg (150 lb).
The area includes four distinct sites: Monte Verde I, Monte Verde II, Chinchihuapi I, and Chinchihuapi II.
Monte Verde has two distinct levels. The upper level, MV-II, was suggested by Dillehay and colleagues to be from the Late Pleistocene. However, other researchers believed it could not be older than the middle Holocene.
The lower level, MV-I, is less understood. It was temporary, formed from ancient river sediments. Dillehay found charcoal that may have come from fireplaces near stone and wood artifacts. These were dated to at least 33,000 years ago. He noted that MV-I has issues, such as unclear artifacts, questionable radiocarbon dates, and uncertain contexts. He hesitates to accept this level without more evidence, including similar-aged sites in the Americas.
Monte Verde I is located under an outwash plain formed during the last ice age. It is not directly below MV-II. It was first identified as a human site because of three clay-lined burned areas and 26 stones, 13 of which may have been modified by humans. In 2013, Dillehay and his team returned to excavate the site due to earlier incomplete work. In 2015, Monte Verde I was dated to about 18,500 to 14,500 years ago. Charcoal, charred bones, and lithic artifacts were found, with about 34% from non-local sources. However, the older end of this range is debated, as it relies on possible lithic tools that some believe are naturally formed.
The site is thought to have been occupied by about 20–30 people. A 20-foot-long tent-like structure made of wood and animal hides was built along the creek. It was framed with logs and planks staked in the ground, creating walls of poles covered with hides. Ropes made from local reeds tied the hides to the poles, forming separate living spaces within the main structure. Outside, two large hearths were built for community use, likely for making tools and crafts.
Each living space had a clay-lined brazier pit. Around these hearths, stone tools and remains of seeds, nuts, and berries were found. A 13,000-year-old wild potato, Solanum maglia, was discovered, the oldest known potato remains. This suggests southern Chile was one of two main centers for the evolution of the common potato. Remains of 45 edible plant species were found, over a fifth from as far as 150 miles (240 km) away. This indicates the people of Monte Verde likely traded or traveled in a wide network.
Other finds include human coprolites (fossilized feces), a footprint possibly made by a child, stone tools, and cordage. Dr. Dillehay dated the site using carbon from bones and charcoal found there.
At Monte Verde II, seven partial Notiomastodon carcasses and remains of an extinct llama, Palaeolama, show signs of butchery. Some carcasses still had preserved meat tissue.
In May 2008, a team reported finding nine species of seaweed and marine algae in ancient hearths. These samples were dated between 14,220 and 13,980 years ago.
However, Surovell et al. (2026) estimated the Lepué Tephra, a layer below MV-II, to be about 11,000 years old. They argued that missing time between layers and reworked materials suggest MV-II is no older than the middle Holocene.
Sites about 500 meters upstream along the same river were dated to about 14,500 years ago. Similar materials, including burned areas, scorched bones, and small rock flakes, were found. Dillehay and his team used test pits and core drillings, discovering 12 burned features linked to animal remains, manuport stones, and modified flakes dated between 18,500 and 14,500 years ago. These findings likely show seasonal activities. Up to 2019, Dillehay conducted two more excavations at the Chinchihuapi site, uncovering lithic tools, flakes, and burned features associated with burned animal and plant remains in CH-I.
Interpretations
Material evidence found at Monte Verde has changed how scientists understand the first people in the Americas. Radiocarbon dating shows that people lived there about 14,000 years ago, and possibly as early as 14,800 to 33,000 years ago. Before this discovery, the oldest known site in the Americas was near Clovis, New Mexico, where people lived between 13,500 and 13,000 years ago. Monte Verde is more than 1,000 years older than Clovis, which surprised scientists.
The dates from Monte Verde have become important in the debate about how the first people reached the Americas. Before Monte Verde was found, the most popular theory was that people traveled overland from Asia across the Bering Strait and then moved through North America. However, the early dates from Monte Verde challenge this idea. Before 13,000 years ago, a large glacier that covered much of Canada had not melted enough to create an open path for people to walk through. The dates from Monte Verde are older than 13,000 years ago, but at that time, much of the Americas was still covered in ice, making it unlikely for people to travel long distances on foot.
Today, the most common theory is that people traveled along the coasts of North and South America. Monte Verde is located 8,000 miles south of the Bering Strait, a distance that would have been difficult to walk, especially over ice. Evidence from Monte Verde includes remains of 22 types of seaweed. Modern people in the area use these seaweeds for medicine, so scientists think Monte Verde people may have used them for similar purposes. This suggests they had knowledge of marine resources. Unlike the Clovis people, who hunted large animals, Monte Verde people may have relied on fishing and gathering along the coast. This supports the idea that they traveled by boat or along the shoreline, using marine resources for survival.
Items found at Monte Verde that are not native to the area, such as certain plants, pebbles, quartz, and tar, suggest that people may have traded with others or that other human settlements existed around the same time.
Academic history
In 1989, awareness of Monte Verde among archaeologists increased significantly when Tom Dillehay presented findings about the site at a conference on the settlement of the Americas at the University of Maine. Archaeologist David J. Meltzer described the presentation as follows:
Dillehay showed images of well-preserved items found at Monte Verde, including wooden tools, house planks, fruits, berries, seeds, leaves, stems, marine algae, crayfish, animal hides, and what appeared to be human coprolites in three small pits. These items were unlike anything most archaeologists had seen before, as they were used to studying stone tools and bones.
Because of the excellent preservation of Monte Verde, it became one of the first Pre-Clovis sites to be widely accepted by scholars. Dillehay, however, was unsure about the site’s early dates due to the strong influence of the Clovis First hypothesis, which suggested that the Clovis culture was the first in the Americas. A 2012 survey by Amber Wheat found that 65% of 132 archaeologists confirmed Monte Verde as a Pre-Clovis site. Despite this, the site’s early date was not widely accepted until 1997.
At that time, it was generally believed that ancient people entered the Americas via the Bering Strait Land Bridge, located about 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) north of Monte Verde. While Monte Verde does not disprove this theory, it supports the idea that people may have traveled along a coastal route instead of through an ice-free corridor as previously thought. In 1997, a group of 12 respected archaeologists revisited Monte Verde and confirmed it was an inhabited site older than the Clovis culture. One of Dillehay’s colleagues, Dr. Mario Pino, suggested a lower layer of the site is 33,200 years old based on burned wood found nearby. Radiocarbon dating confirmed the wood was 33,000 years old, but Dillehay remained cautious, and this date was not accepted by the scientific community by 2007.
In 2026, a new study by researchers from the U.S. and Chile questioned the timeline of Monte Verde II’s occupation, suggesting the campsite was much younger than previously believed and was not occupied until the Middle Holocene, after 8,200 years ago. This was the first independent analysis of the site’s layers, as Dillehay and colleagues had exclusive permits. The findings were immediately challenged by Dillehay and some experts, who criticized the study’s use of data from areas far from the site, though others supported the research.
In March 2026, the Fundación Monte Verde, led by Dillehay, filed complaints with Chile’s Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales (CMN) about irregularities in sampling activities by archaeologist César Méndez, a coauthor of the study. The complaints requested the cancellation of permits and retraction of the study published in Science magazine. On April 8, 2026, the CMN unanimously rejected the complaints, stating the activities followed approved permits and that most requests were outside its legal authority.
Comparison to other early Americas sites
MV-I has been dated using radiocarbon methods to 33,000 years before present (BP). Like other sites that suggest very early dates, such as the Topper site in South Carolina and Pedra Furada in Brazil, this older layer of MV-I is still debated by scientists.
The only other archaeological site in Southern Chile that is about the same age as Monte Verde is Pilauco Bajo, dated to 12,500–11,000 BP. Researchers suggested that these two sites may have worked together: Monte Verde could have been a place where people lived, while Pilauco Bajo might have been a location used for hunting and gathering food. Further south, the Pali Aike Crater lava tube is dated to 14,000–10,000 BP.
The Chinchorro culture, which mainly lived along the coasts of northern Chile and southern Peru, began around 9,000 years BP and lasted for a long time. Other coastal sites, such as Quebrada Jaguay and Quebrada Tacahuay in Peru, appear to be from about 13,000 to 12,000 years BP. Huaca Prieta in northern Peru was used as far back as 15,000 BP.