Tom Dillehay of Vanderbilt University published a paper in PaleoAmerica on 19 August to rebut the dating claims made by another research team. The Monte Verde archaeological site is located along Chinchihuapi Creek in Chile.
Excavations at the location have been ongoing since 1977. Dillehay's team previously dated Monte Verde I to between 14,500 and 18,500 years ago in a 2015 study.
A layer of peat above Monte Verde II was also dated to 14,500 years ago by the same group. In 2008, Dillehay's team identified marine algae at Monte Verde II with dates ranging from 14,220 to 13,980 years ago.
Official approval for Dillehay's analyses was granted by a team of archaeologists in 1997. The oldest Clovis sites are approximately 13,000 years old.
Todd Surovell and colleagues visited the area during 2022 and 2023 before publishing results in Science in March 2026. Surovell's team placed Monte Verde II between 8,200 and 4,200 years ago.
Dillehay criticized the opposing team's methodology, stating, "They did not excavate at the site, never saw the stratigraphy and examined only surface landscape from 50 to 4000 meters away in distance." Dillehay noted his findings were based on "more than 1000 radiocarbon and luminescence dates and intact chrono-stratigraphy, as well as diagnostic stone tools dated in other sites."
A volcano known as Michinmahuida erupted roughly 11,000 years ago.
