New excavations at the late Pleistocene site of Chinchihuapi I, Chile

This paper presents new excavation data on the Chinchihuapi I (CH-I) locality within the Monte Verde site complex, located along Chinchihuapi Creek in the cool, temperate Valdivian rain forest of south-central Chile. The 2017 and 2018 archaeological excavations carried out in this open-air locality reveal further that CH-I is an intermittently occupied site dating from the Early Holocene (similar to 10,000 cal yr BP) to the late Pleistocene (at least similar to 14,500 cal yr BP) and probably earlier. A new series of radiocarbon dates refines the chronology of human use of the site during this period. In this paper, we describe the archaeological and stratigraphic contexts of the recent excavations and analyze the recovered artifact assemblages. A fragmented Monte Verde II point type on an exotic quartz newly recovered from excavations at CH-I indicates that this biface design existed in at least two areas of the wider site complex similar to 14,500 cal yr BP. In addition, associated with the early Holocene component at CH-I are later Paijan-like points recovered with lithic tools and debris and other materials. We discuss the geographic distribution of diagnostic artifacts from the site and their probable relationship to other early sites in South America.