Overview
- The new analysis places Monte Verde at roughly 4,200 to 8,200 years old rather than the widely cited ~14,500 years.
- Researchers report an ~11,000‑year Lepúe/Michinmahuida ash layer beneath the occupation surface and use radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence results to argue for a mid‑Holocene age.
- The team attributes earlier older ages to redeposited Ice Age wood and sediments moved by Chinchihuapi Creek, based on sampling of nine exposures across the valley.
- The findings, published in Science, draw strong objections from original excavator Tom Dillehay and critiques from outside experts who dispute the stratigraphic linkage and the relevance of some sampled areas.
- The proposed redating would weaken Monte Verde’s role in supporting a pre‑Clovis coastal dispersal, though scholars stress that broader conclusions await further independent fieldwork.