Therefore, most of the provenience information for these crucial artifacts was either published more than a decade after their discoveries or was never published at all. This could imply that many of the artifacts may simply be intrusions from a later, post-Clovis settlement.

So, is there, after all, no problem to solve? Need scientists not contemplate the difficulties that Monte Verde raises? The answer is most likely no. The evidence for a pre-Clovis population is difficult to ignore. Linguists such as R. Gruhn contend that it would take at least 50 kyr for all the Native American languages to diversify. He also points out that the languages along the Pacific Coast are most similar to each other. There are other sites besides Monte Verde such as the proposed 19-kyr-old Meadowcroft Rockshelter, 32-kyr-old Pedra Furada in northern Brazil, and the supposed 200-kyr-old Calico Hill site in California, among others.

Furthermore, the Monte Verde artifact assemblage differed substantially from Clovis and all other assemblages currently known. It lacked bone and ivory artifacts, as well as the fine microblades that were so characteristic of Upper Paleolithic Asian industries. From the descriptions, it seems its tool types more closely resemble the Oldowan industry of Africa some 1.5 myr (million years) ago. R. Gruhn has advanced a possible explanation, that the first Americans entered via the Pacific shoreline during the peak of the last ice age. They were marine foragers, and therefore used an unspecialized tool technology. However, there is no apparent evidence of a shift in the tool types manufactured.

Monte Verde still remains a mystery ... but for how long?

       

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