<P> In the initial excavation, two large hearths were found and many small ones as well . The remains of local animals were found, in addition to wooden posts from approximately twelve huts . Scraps of clothing made of hide were also found . This led archaeologists to estimate the population was around 20 - 30 inhabitants . A human footprint was also found in the clay, probably from a child . Inside the camp, archaeologists found a chunk of meat that still had preserved DNA . After a DNA analysis, it matched that of a gomphothere, indicating the type of food the inhabitants ate . </P> <P> Awareness about Monte Verde among the international archaeology community was greatly increased in 1989 when Dillehay delivered a presentation on Monte Verde at a conference on settlement of the Americas at the University of Maine . Archaeologist David J. Meltzer notes on that presentation: </P> <P> The images Tom Dillehay was showing of the well - preserved remains at Monte Verde--wooden artifacts and house planks, fruits, berries, seeds, leaves, and stems, as well as marine algae, crayfish, chunks of animal hide, and what appeared to be several human coprolites found in three small pits--were unlike anything most of us, who long ago had learned to be used to stone tools and grateful for occasional bits of bone, had ever seen . </P> <P> The early date for the site was not widely accepted until 1997 . It had hitherto been generally agreed that ancient people had entered the Americas using the Bering Strait Land Bridge, which was about 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) north of the Monte Verde site . A group of 12 respected archaeologists revisited the site in 1997 and concluded that Monte Verde was an inhabited site and predated the Clovis culture . One of Dillehay's colleagues, Dr. Mario Pino, claimed a lower layer of the site is 33,200 years old, based on the discovery of burned wood several hundred feet to the south of Monte Verde . Radiocarbon dating established the wood as 33,000 years old . Dillehay was cautious of this earlier date, and as of 2007 it has not been verified nor accepted by the scientific community . </P>

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