Frontline Involvement in a Paradigm Change: Archaeology of the First Americans and Monte Verde

Over the past several decades a heated debate and gradual Kuhnian-like paradigm shift has been taking place in American archaeology that relates to the initial peopling of the western hemisphere. The central role of the Monte Verde archaeological site in Chile in the debate and paradigm change and the obstacles to its eventual acceptance are discussed. Monte Verde is a unique site that radiocarbon dated at least 1500 years earlier than expected and exhibited a wide array of organic cultural materials that revealed extraordinary details of the economy, technology and lifestyle of early Americans in southern South America during the late Pleistocene era. The uniqueness of the site and its age made it controversial and prolonged its final acceptance.