[Pil-pc-oceania] Seaweed remains feed Chilean settlement theory

[Deb Guildner]

Seaweed remains feed Chilean settlement theory
May 10, 2008 
WASHINGTON: Remains of meals that included seaweed are helping to confirm the date of a settlement in southern Chile that may offer the earliest evidence of humans in the Americas.

Researchers date the seaweed found at Monte Verde to more than 14,000 years ago, 1000 years earlier than the well-studied Clovis culture in Mexico. 

The find moves back evidence of people in the Americas by a millennium or more. 

The prevailing theory has been that people followed herds of migrating animals across a land bridge between Siberia and the US state of Alaska, and then moved southwards along the west coast. 

A team led by anthropologist Tom Dillehay of Vanderbilt University reports on the new seaweed study from Monte Verde, Chile, in the latest edition of the journal Science. 

Nine species of seaweed and marine algae were recovered from hearths in the settlement, about 800km south of Santiago and about 16km inland. 

Between 20 and 30 people appear to have lived at the site. Other food remains found there include vegetables, nuts, shellfish, an extinct species of llama and an elephant-like animal called a gomphothere. 

Some of the seaweed had been chewed, including two types still used by local natives for medical purposes. Other examples were burned, indicating cooking. 

Beach stones and other materials were also found at the inland site. 

The materials in Chile were radiocarbon dated at 12,500 years ago which, Dr Dillehay said, translated to between 14,200 and 14,500 calendar years ago. 

AP


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23672183-36235,00.html
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