Monte Verde settlement: wooden huts and medicinal seaweed

What was discovered

A camp with log foundations, hides, hearths and remains of seaweed and medicinal plants carried from the coast. It demonstrated that southern South America was settled before Clovis.

The dating of level MV-II (c. 14,500 cal BP) was accepted by most researchers after the 1997 site visit; the much older MV-I level remains highly disputed.

What it led to

• the end of the 'Clovis First' paradigm
• evidence of medicinal plant use in the Americas more than 14,000 years ago
• a revision of the coastal routes of the peopling of the Americas

Built on

• Peopling of the Americas via Beringiac. 16 000 BCE

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-09-25

• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1156533