f

A Late Ice-Age Settlement )

in Southern Chile
A settled community ilourished in the forests ofsouthern ChJ1esome
137000 years ago.'The well-preserved site shows that New World
Pleistocene culture was much more advanced than has been thought
.
by T om D. Dillehay

T he discovery of a late Pleistocene

forests of southern Chile is yield-

ing a strikingly detailed picture of how
Andes into the central valley. They car-
settlement at Monte Verde in the ried with them salid, gravel and siGue,
whichthey deposited as the climate
warmed. In addition they gouged the
lower layers of the terrace had already
been laid clown. Chinchihuapi Creek
was shallow and narrow, with a maxi-
muro width of tour meters and a maxi-
the earliest inhabitants of the New land, dotting the regían with lakes and muro depth of half a meter. Because
World lived. The remarkable wealth of bogs. A network of rivers flowing west the climate was slightly wetter andcool-
artifacts these people left forros a rich to the Pacific now drains the lakes. er, there may have been a few more
and eloq uent record of the social system, The afea around Monte Verde today bogs iban currently exist.
the economic strategies and the fechnol- has moderately dry sumIhers and cold, After the settlement was abandoned
ogies through which they adapted to rainy winters. The climate that pre- the local topography changed in a way
their postglacial forest habitat. vailed in the late Pleistocene after the that proved to be of great benefit to ar-
Radiocarbon analyses of wood, baile glaciers had receded probably resem- chaeology. The creek began to cut a new
and charcoal from the site have yielded bled ibis pattern, although it might have channel in the terrace. When the creek
a series of dates between 13,000 and be en slightly coo'ler and more humid. moved, a real bog formed on the banks
12,500 B.P.(before the present). In addi- A forest made up of a mixture of de- of the old creek bed arid al so in the bed
tion to stone and baile tools, which are ciduous and coniferous species covers itself. A real bog, which is composed of
often found at early New World sites, the regían; it abundantly supplies edi- soil and decaying vegetable matter, pre-
Monte Verde offers a rich, unprecedent- ble tubers, nuts, berries, fruits and soft, venís air from reachirig buried artifacts
ed collection of wood artifacts and plant leafy plants throughout the year. There and thus is an excellent medium for pre-
remains. Among the wood artifacts are are also small game, freshwater mol- serving organic remains. The bog ulti-
the foundations of the earliest archi- lusks and fish. The nearest point on the mately filled the abandoned stream bed
tecture that has yet been found in the Pacific coast, which líes abOlir 60 kilo- and covered the site of the community.
Americas. The arrangement of these meters west and 25 kilometers south of Chinchihuapi Creek ran in its newbed
buildings suggests a community with a the Pleistocene settlement, offers many for thousands of years. Then, in 1976,
fairly well-defined division of labor. The edible species of marine organisms. All the stream shifted again. The water cut
organic remains show that the residents these sources of food were available to into the filled cbannel, partially expos-
had a rich and varied diet based mainly the early inhabitants. ing the old banks of the creek and the
on plants. The relatively high level of artifacts buried ip.tRem. The remains of
social development represented by the
community at Monte Verde indicates T he site of the settlement is buried in
the banks of Chinchihuapi Creek, a
the settlement were' fQund in the same
year by a team from, the Southern Uni-
that N ew World culture in the late Pleis- small tributary of the Maullín River. versity of Chile in Valdivia, where 1was
tocene was much more complex iban The creek runs through a terrace with then head of the program in anthropol-
has been thought. three tiers. :rhe lowest layer consists of ogy. Mauricio van de Maele, director
The high degree of preservation of rough salid and gravel la id clown be- of the M useo de História y Antropoló-
wood and vegetal materials, the social tween 45,000 and 20,000 B.P.Above the gia, took part in all phases of the workal
and economic patterns to which they first tier is a layer of salid and small the site along with my colleagues and me.
and other material s attest, and the dis- pebbles laid clown between 20,000 and Sílice 1976 the group ofworkers atthe
covery of the site itself are all closely 14,000 B.P. Not long after the second site has expanded to include an interdis-
related to the geography and climate of layer was deposited the cree k began to ciplinary team of 32 nonarchaeologists
southern Chile. The Monte Verde site --cut a narrow bed through the terrace; drawn from such fields as geology, bota-
lies in the central valley that dominates gravel and fluvial deposit.5 line the bed. ny and paleontology. At least one more
the landscape of southern Chile. The The two lower layers of the terrace are field season will be needed to determine
valley runs on a north-south axis and is covered by an upper stratum consisting the full extent of the settlement and
bounded by a narrow Pacific littoral of more recentsoils. specify the details of the pattern of bUf-
zone and a low coastal mountain range Mario Pino of the Southern Universi- ied deposits.
to fue west and the-high Andean cordil- ty of Chile, the geologist of our project, Although only part of the site has
lera to the east. studied the afea around Monte Verde. been excavated, test pits in the outlying
During the Pleistocene epoch, which He concludes that at the time the site area~ suggest that the buried afea of oc-
ended between 10,000 and 8000 B.P., was occupied the local topography was cupation has a total extent of 70 by 100
glaciers moved clown the slopes of the similar to what it is today. The two meters. Chinchihuapi Cree k partitions

100
¡;;~ ~- -
 this afea of 7,000 square meters into a contains the foundations of 12 dwell- logs and roughly cut hardwood planks
northern part and a southern part. Most ings. The arrangement of the foundation held. in place by stakes driven in the
I

.J. oi the digging has taken place on the
northbank of the creek but preliminar y
work shows there are algo structures
buriedon the south bank. The main ex-
cavation afea on the north bank covers
about 750 square meters; this afea has
beenarbitrarily divided into an eastern
partand a western part.
The eastern part of the north bank
members shows that the structures were
rectangular. The foundations algo re-
veal a striking fact: the huís were joined
by their walls to form two parallel rows.
Test excavations farther to the west and
on the south bank suggest that there are
algo remnants of multiunit structures
buried there.
The foundations are made up of small
ground. Fallen branches and the broken
stubs of vertical members show that the
huI trames were constructed of local
hardwoods. Saplings placed every few
feet along the foundation members de-
fined the walls. A few small fragments
of what has tentatively been identified as
animal skin clinging to the fallen side
poles indicate that hides draped on the

\
\

FOUNDATION OF WISHBONE-SHAPED STRUCTURE uncov- of the opening is 25 centimeters long). The wishbone-shaped strnc-
Iredat Monte Verde consists of compressed sand and gravel that ture may have served as the site for dressing meat, preparing hides,
probablysupported a hemispherical trame of saptings covered with making stone tools or rendering communal medical careo The space
hides. The raised platform at the rear forros the short protru-
!animal infront of the fonndatioil is ontlined by branches, siGues and car-
Iliooofthe "wishbone." The two longer, curved legs flank the open- bonized materials. Several layers of soil of recent origin had to be
Iingthrough which the structure was entered. The foundation is 3.9 removed in order to reach the remains, which tie on a geologic lay-
oelerslong and three meters wide (the red-and-white arrow in front er laid down between 20,000 and 14,000 B.P. (before the present).
 the huts we found the remains of a struc-
ture with a design quite different from
that of the dwellings.
The foundation of the structure con-
.
.
sists of salid and grave! compressed ina
form that resembles the "wishbone" ofa
turkey. The main axis of the foundation
runs east and west. A small raised plat-
form at the west end corresponds to the
small protrusion of the wishbone. Two
long curved legs extend to fue east and
their ends define an opening opposíte
the platform. The entire foundation is
z« 3.9 meters from east to west, three me-
<: ters from north to south and about .6
« meter high.
lJ.J
()
o f
:::::r! « «
l'w<'
: () I <:
lJ.J
()
Along both long legs of the wishbone
.f\.. were found fragments of wood up-
o
-Ll.
() rights spaced about half a meter arar!.

-
()
tJ These are probably the remnants of
a hemispherical trame that might have
been covered with hides. The raunded
« structure was c1early entered through
Q ::i:
':',;'
GULF OF ANCUD the opening between the curved legs
rather than through the wall as the
MONTE VERDE líes in a valley in southern Chile formed by the Andes to the east and the
huts were.
coastal mountains to the west. It is often assumed that in South America permanent human set- In front of the entrance to the wish-
tlements with an agricultural or maritime economy first developed around 6000 H.P.in the cen- bone-shaped structure is a rectangular
tral Andes (colored aTea on map at left). The permanent settlemént at Monte Verde is far to space outlined by branches where a few
the south of this regiDo, and the remains discovered at Monte Verde are at least 5,000 years old- stone tools were fou'nd. Braziers simi-
er than those that have been found in the central Andes. The people of Monte Verde may have lar to the ones in the dwelling huts were
attempted to domesticate plants, although the evidence is far from conclusive. The data sug- also uncovered. Scrapings fram the bra-
gest that a settled way óf life was developed independently in several regiDos of South Amer- ziers ahd the raised platform at the west
¡ea. Monte Verde is on Chinchihuapi Creek, a small tributary of the Maullín River (right).
end of the wishbone have yielded an
intriguing combination of bits of pre-
roles formed the walls of the dwellings. ished wood tools are three hafts with served animal hide, ,burnt seeds and
The dwellings vary in size from three stone scrapers mounted on them, pos- stalks 'of the totora plant (Scirpuscalifar-
by three meter s to tour by 4.5 meters, sibly used for preparing hides; a sharp- nicus) and masticated leav~s of the bol-
but they all have the same basic rectan- pointed tool resembling a lance that do plant (Peumus boldus). Residents of
gular plan. The villagers evidently en- is about 1.5 meters long, and a collec- the arca around Monte Verde stil!brew
tered them by parting the hides that tion of digging sticks and other small boldo leaves intoa tea that is believedto
served as the outside wall. Inside each wood objects. have medicinal properties.
hut were found plant remains, stone No human bailes have yetbeen found Scattered in a large, raugh circ1e
tools, food stains and braziers: shallow in the excavation, although there may around the stnicture are a group of
pits lined with c1ay that held burning be graves in the part of the site that has hearths, wood piles, wood artifacts,
coals. The inhabitants probably used the not been thoroughly explored. We have, stone tools and mastodon bailes. Indeed,
braziers for heating the huts and warm- however, uncovered two pieces of indi- almost all the mastodon bailes, al! the
ing cooked food. rect evidence about the anatomy and tools made of' stone .from beyond the
physiology of the community members. immediate arca of 'Monte Verde and al!

T hatcookedthe collectively
residents of the complex
is implied by the
discovery of two large hearths in cen-
tral positions outside the huts. Flotation
studies, in which organic matter can be
separated from soil and c1ay, have yield-
ed carbon, edible seeds, nuts, fruits and
berries from the braziers and the hut
floors. Three rough wood mortars and
several grinding stones found near the
hearths were probably used to prepare
plant foods for cooking.
Other artifacts uncovered on the east
side of the site confirm that wood was of
great significance in the life of the com-
munity. Piles of lumber, logs and oth-
er worked pieces of wood indicate that
the residents stored firewood and made
wood tools. Indeed, the many partially
shaved or carved objects found near the
huts suggest that much time was de-
voted to woodworking. Among the fin-
One bit of evidence is the imprint of a
left foot, 16 centimeters long, that was
preserved in the c1ay around one of the
communal hearths. It is difficult to es-
timate a person's size and height from
a footprint, but it is probable that the
impression was made by a child or an
adolescent.
Indirect information about the inhab-
itants' physiology comes from copro-
lites (preserved reces) that arrear to be
of human origino The coprolites were
recovered from small pits near the com-
munal hearths. Coprolites often yield
data about the nutrition of prehistoric
people, and work is being done to identi-
fy the rallen and plant content of the
ones found in the settlement.
The inhabitants of Monte Verde ap-
parently divided their community into
living arcas and arcas employed for oth-
er purposes. About 30 meter s west of
the complex sto'ne'tools flaked on both
sides that have been uncovered at Mon-
te Verde come frorit this circular con- ~
centration. The evidence suggests the
building was the site for activities in-
c1uding the dressing of meat fram big
kills, the making of sophisticated stone
tools and perhaps specialized medicinal
practices.
The wishbone-shaped building and
the dwelling' huts are components of a
planned settlement that was integrated
both spatially and functionally. Severa!
observations support the proposítion
that the structures are the remains of a
single community and not of bands that
occcupied the site at different times. ..
First, all the foundations at the site líeon
the buried surface of the same geologic
layer and therefore were probably con-
strutted at the same time. Second, Done
of the structures averIar, as they proba-

102
- b.
~
-- ---
 I
LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY has been reeonstructed. to -show the envi-
fonment of the eommunity at Monte Verde as it might.have looked
al Ihe time of settlement. The site lies on a terraee eomposed of two
layers of sand deposited by retreating glaeiers at the end of the per-
iod of Pleistoeene glaciation. When the climate warmed, Chinehi-
hnapi Creekbegan to cut a ehannel through"the terraee. Later, the
creek shifted its bed. The modero' ereek bed is shown by solidblaek
FOUNDATlONS of 12 dweIlings mark the eastero part of thesite
on the north bank of th'e creek. The foundations eonsist of hardwood
logs held in place by stakes. Ten of the dweIling huts, were joined to
form two parallel rows adjaeent to the ereek. In tbe Hoors of several
I
liDes and the originarbed by broken eolored liDes. The human band
probably established their settlement on the banks of the ereekbe-
tween 13,000 and 12,560 B.P. They oeeupied a total of 7,000 square
meters (broken blackline). Most of the digging has been done on the
north bank of the ereek. In tlie eastero part of the north bank the au-
thorand bis eolleagues found the remains of dwellings;in the western
part they uneovered the foundation of the wishbone-shapedstructure.
'"
5 METERS
huís are shallow, cIay-lined pits. The pits are braziers that may have
been used f?r warming e_ked food. Two Iarge heartlls were prob-
ably employed for eommunal eOGking. The strvetvres uneovered at
Monte' Verde are the earliest areltitecture known in tlle Americas.
103
 bly would if they had been built at inter-
vals by different groups. Third, fue same
types of hearths, braziers, wood and
stone tools, plant remains and animal
.
bailes are foundthroughout the site, im-
plying that all fue remains originated in
a single cultural episode.
What did the people of Monte Verde
eat? Preliminary findings by the botanist
of our project, Carlos Ramirez of !he
Southern University of Chile, and the
paleontologist, Rodolfo Casamiquela of
the Fundación Ameghino in Argentina,
have begun to elucidatethe residents'
diet. The Monte Verdeans lived mainly
on wild plants supplemented by several
types of mea!. The plants were gathered
.from nearby bogs, marshes and forests
.
and al so from the delta of the Maullín
River on the Pacific coas!. Freshwater
mollusks were algo found ¡Úthe site. No
fishbones -or marine shells have been re-
covered, but the inhabitants might have
gathered marine organisms and left the
bailes or shells on the beach.

M astodons and smaller game were

hunted for their flesh. Almost all
the animal bailes unearthed at the site
are from the carcasses oi seven masto-
dons. Most of the bailes are broken ribs
but there are algo a few fragments of
skulls, teeth and legs. The sample oi
bailes makes it seem probable that the
residents killed or scavenged the masto-
dons elsewhere and carriedhome only
meat"be~ring bailes. ané scapula froID
a paleocamelid was algo found. (The pa-
leocamelids are the an,cestors of the

RECONSTRUCTION of the community al

Monte .verde shows the settlement ¡nelud.
ed both l'esidential and nonresidential areas.
The view in 1he iIIustration is nortb across

.....
 moderncamelid group, which includes ing, pecking-and-grinding and the selec- In the pecking-and-grinding method
thellama, the alpaca and the vicuña). tion of pebbles that were later modified the craftsman gave an unfractured stone
Monte Verde is the first site from the in the course of use. The flaked and a rough, spherical shape by removing
Pleistocene epoch in the Americas to pecked-ground tools resemble artifacts small chips. The craftsman then pol-
yieldan abundance of the remains of" found in the remains of later South ished fue surface by rubbing the partly
plantsthat served an economic function. American cultures, but the pebble tech- finished object against other stones. Pro-
Amongthese are the remains of tubers, nology has not been duplicated among jectiles, hammers and grinding stones
includingthe wild patato. It is possible the tools that have so far been described were made in Ibis way.
thatthe tubers were semidomesticated. in the Americas. Among the pecked-ground specimens
Thesample of preserved tubers is toa In the flaking technique a stone is from Monte Verde are 28 almost per-
small,however, and too.littte is known formed into a rough approximation of fect spheres made of tonalite and basalt
aboutthe history of such plantsin South the desired shape; then the craftsman from Chinchihuapi Creek. Two of the
America to conclude that the residents chips away flakes of varying size, using spheres are girdled by grooves. These
actuallypracticed horticulture. an implement of stone, baile or hard- were probably attached to a cord to
What is perhaps of greater signifi- ened wood. The flaking can be done on form a bola used for harassing or stun-
caucethan the finding of the wild patato one face of fue tool or on both faces. ning large game before the kilL The
isthewide variety of edible seeds, stalks, Eleven flaked tools were found at stones without grooves were probably
leaves, fruits, nuts, berries and roots Monte Verde; of these only tour are bi- hurled from a sling. We found most
Ihathave been recovered. These finds faeially flaked. Two of the bifaciaUy ol the spherical stones in fue west end
are significant beca use they include fue ftaked tools are large baTId axes and two of the site.
remains of plants that matuTe during are crude chopping tools. The chopper s
al! the months of the year. The plants
are from several different environmen-
are made of local stone; the axes are.
made of basalt and quartzite that do not T healgopecking-and-grinding technique
had domestic applications, as is
tal zones, implying that the .residents come from Monte Verde. The tour bifa- shown by hammerstones and grinding
ranged widely in search of food. The cially flaked tools were found among stones. We retrieved 15 hammerstones
inclusion of plants from aH seasons, the mastodon bailes on the west sirle made of dense local basalt and granite
however, implies that the inhabitants of the site near the wishbone-shaped from both the residential and the non-
weresettled. Rather thanchanging their building. The tools flaked on one sirle residential afeas. Ten grinding stones lay
dwellingplace contiimously during the only were for the most part found near near the wood mortars and the hearths
search (as small hunting-and-gathering fue dwel1ings and aIl of them are made- in the dwelling section. The grinding
bandsdo) they remained year round in a from local stone. tools are made from local granites and
permanent settlement where they were The making of the bifacially flaked algo from a fine-grained granite found
sustained by a rich and dependable or- stone tools requires a much higher level on the Pacific coast. The abundance of
ganicbase. of skill Iban the making of fue unifacial- grinding stones and mortars confirms
Stone technology had a significant ly flaked stones, pecked-ground tools the crucial importance of plant foods in
TOle inprocessing both plant and animal and pebbles characteristic of the eastem the diet of the settlement.
foods.Three different methods for mak- part of the site. It is possible that the The majority of the stone tools were
ing stone tools are represented among techniques were employed by distinct not flaked or ground but were simply
the specimens from Monte Verde: flak- groups within the community. picked from the creek bed and minimal-

'-."""'i,,;~.)i\L,\SANDBAR\ "\:{.:"

.\<'! '~Wt~!;::;;:,:'

Chinchihuapi Creek. The resideotial arcas were io the eastern part in the western part of the settlement 00 the north bank. Most of. the
of the oorth baok aod 00 the south baok. Most of the Imnber, wood mastodoo bones and complex -stone tools flaked on both sides were
loolsand grinding stones were found near the dwellings. The nOllres- deposited in a rough circle around the wishbone-shaped building;
idential arca, where the wishbone-shaped structure was"foulld, was they were'mingled with pla.Hts that may have had medicinal uses.

105

M I~r - - ~ "-- .
 ly modified in use. A preliminary classi-
fication by Michael Collins of the Muse-
um of the Southwest in Midland,Tex., ..
and me shows that the 550 pebbles in
ibis category make up 90 percen1 of the
stone tools fram the site.
The bed of Chinchihuapi Cree k con-
tains fragments of vo1canic rack such as
basalt, and.esite and tonalite that were
fractured when they were deposited
near the site long before it was occupied.
Selle of thenaturally fractured stones
have eriges suitable for cutting, planting,
scraping and gouging. The residents had
only to choose a pebble with an edge
appropriate to the task. The stone could
even be mounted on a wood handle, as ..
two of the artifacts are. Many of these
pebbles exhibir clear traces of wear on
their eriges.
CHOPPED 'LOG from the residential afea .ofthesite.was probably cut with a stone ax at the The relativeabsence of fiaking debris
point indicated by the arrow. The log was near ORe of the communal hearths, which suggests tends to confirm that working in stone
that it could have been intended for firewoodor for use in constructing anadditional dwelling. did not contribute as m1ích to the com-
.munity as working in w.ood. The pres-
ence of tools made freID sienes that are
not indigenous confirms that the resi-
dents covered a wide territory.
In addition to the sienes a few mas-
taJan-baile tools have been retrieved
freID. the site./QnecJong boneiragment
has small Cl:ltsand depressions similar to
those found on tools for stone fiaking
that have be en recovered from other
late Pleistocene' sitesin South Ameri-
ca. One fragment of baile mighLhave
served as a lance point or even a projec-
lile po~nt. Two fragments of mastodon
tusk were polished and also show Jeep
parallel marks of wear on their sides.
Most of the baile too15 come from the
west end of the Bite ne'ar the wishbone-
shaped structure.

T hematerialre.trieved from the banks

of Chinchmuapi Creek is contribut-
ing to a-'1undél'fJlentalrevision of the ac-
cepted picture of early culture in the
New World. lJl}ti1 about 20 years ago
most archaeologiststhought the firsthu-
man band-s crossed~a land bridge froID
Asia in abOlir 10;000 B.P., bringing with
them a specialized, nomadic culture
based on hunting large mammals. More '::1
recent findings, however, suggest the
NewWorld was populated in 20,OOOB.P,
or even earlier.and thatthe first inhabi-
tants had a generalized economy based
. as much on gathering plants as on big-
game hunting.
One reason the older hypothesis was
able to gain acceptance is the poor con-
dition of the known sites dating from
10,000 B.P.or before. Disturbed soillay-
ers, inconclusive radiocarbon dates, du-
bious manmade tools and the mixing of
artifacts fram different periods of occu-
palian have considerably reduced the lo
value of .the older sites. Even..atprotect-
SCAPULA OF P ALEOCAMELID was excavated from ihe floor of ORe of the dwellings. ed sites, artifacts made of stone or baile
Stone and wood artifacts surround the boDe, which is at the center of the ilIustration. Among have resisted' decomposition far better
the artifacts are pieces of the hut trame. Paleocamelids.are the ancestors of the vicuña, the al- than'wood tools or plant remains. As a
paca and the llama. The inhabitants hunted to augment a diet based mainly on plant toDaS. result the hunting and butchering tech-

106
- -'"
kc c.~ ~ -l-
 a
b e

~--------

-----------------
STONE TOOLS made by tbree techniques have been found at Monte Verde. The most com-
plextools, such as the large oval chopper, were made by ftaking on both faces (a). Round ob-
jectswere made by pecking away smaIl chips to approximate the desired shape and then grind-
ingthe article joto final formo Some of the round stones are grooved. Such grooves could have
been used to attach the stone to a cord, thereby forming a bola for stunning game before the
km (b). Round stones without grooves could have been tbrown from slings (e). The simplest
technique for acquiring a tool was to select a stone with a suitable edge from the stream bed.
Among the tools of ibis type is a scraper that was probably used to prepare animal hides (d).

nologies of the early inhabitants are bet-
ter understood Iban their domestic tech-
nology, social structure or architecture.
The archaeological work done before
1970,which was based in large part on
stone and boDe objects, tended to rein-
forcethe concept of a culture that devel-
oped about 10,000 years ago and was
centered on the making of specialized
stone tools for hunting game.
In the 1970's findings from Pikima-
chay Cave in Peru and Meadowcroft
Rock Shelter in Pennsylvania provided
evidence for a quite different scenario.
Both sites have remains that are from
15,000to 20,000 years cid. Organic re-
mains freID Meadowcroft show that the
gathering of plants supplemented hunt-
ingeven in ver y early times.
The excavation at Monte Verde sig-
nificantly extends these recent findings.
Because a real bog covered the settle-
meDí,the assemblage of wood artifacts
from Monte Verde is the mostcomplete
yetfound in the N ew World. The collec-
Pleistocene settlement. Both Pikima-
chay and. Meadowcroft are sheltered
locations in which it was not necessary
for the residents to crecí dwellings. Be-
cause Monte Verde is in the oren, the
inhabitants built dwellings and nomes- r
idential structures. The plan of these
structures suggests that by the peri-
od between 13,000 and 12,500 B.P.,
New World culture had advanced to a
far higher level Iban previous findings
would suggest.
Moreover, it is significant that Monte
Verde is set in a forest. Because wooded 2
regions provide such a rich environment 3
for human beings, much of the develop-
meDí of early culture must have taken 4.
place there. Yet most of the early sites
in the Americas are either in caves 5.
6.
or rock shelters or are on unforested
plains; hence they cannot reveal much 7.
about how the forest dwellers lived.
8.
M anyearliestquestions remain about the
history of human beings in
9.

tionof artifacts demonstrates that wood
technology could have contributed as
much to the development of early cul-
I tureas stone technology. In addition the
I plant remains freID Monte Verde are
the New World. There is currentIy con-
10.
siderable debate about whether a gener-
alized economy or a specialized ORede-
veloped first. There is algo debate about
whether the two types of culture were AF:
F

far more abundant than those from the 313

-1 other sites. This organic record gives
evidence of the broad base of the econ-
omy and supports fue idea of a gener-
alized culture.
Other advantages come directly from
the geography of the arca around the
adaptations to different physical envi- freE
ronments or whether they coexisted in 43~
the same environment. Because of the
scarcity of well-preserved early sites, re- AJ
solving such questions forms a research We
agenda that will occupy archaeologists
for decades to come.
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1
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LARGE GEAR WHEELS ORemeter in diameter are produced at a beats tbe rim of a rotating blank to a temperature of about 1,100de-
rolling mili near Moscow by a metbod called plastic working. It is a grees Celsins (top). Next tbe rim is sbaped first in smooth roIlersand
continuous process beginning witb tbe blank wbeeI. In tbe rolling mili tben in- geared rollers. Tbe geared rollers (bottom right) have been
a bigb-frequency inductor (tbe boxlike unit above tbe workpiece) moved to ORe side to allow tbe removal of tbe finisbed workpiece.

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