Patagonia. James Button

that is sinonomous with the Patagons. These groups have also been classified as subgroups by Frederico Escalada, who has denominated them as Insular Tehuelches and Continental Tehuelches. Likewise, the Argentinean anthropologist Rudolfo Casamiquela has defined them into sub-groups, calling them Insular Tehuelches and Continental Tehuelches, and further dividing them into Southern and Northern groups. Both Argentinean scientists came up with their definitions years prior to the discovery of Monte Verde in Puerto Montt and Pilauco Bajo. Therefore, just like Susana Bandieri, other contemporary historians must revise their conclusions on the true delineation of the territories inhabited by the Patagones or Tehuelches of Greater Patagonia, which is shared between the Republics of Chile and Argentina.

Conclusion regarding Monte Verde and Patagonia

      The Chinchihaupi Creek that empties into the Río Gato that flows into the waters of the great Río Maullin leading to the Pacific Ocean has been identified as Monte Verde I and Monte Verde II by the North American anthropologist Tom Dillehay. Until forty years ago, the majority of archaeological studies claimed that groups of humans crossed from Asia to North America 11,000 years ago, during their hunt for the great mammals. The discoveries at Monte Verde, however, suggest that the American Continent was populated at least 3,000 years earlier. That is to say, in 14,000 BC, and that those early inhabitants were organized communities dedicated to hunting large animals and also to gathering plants⁽⁴⁾.

      The large collection of artefacts found at Monte Verde is the most complete that has been found in the New World, according to Dillehay, and demonstrates that the development of primitive techniques was initiated at an early stage in that culture. And even though there remains a great deal to be investigated at those archaeological sites, the samples found so far suggest that the group of people once living there were characteristic nomads. Therefore we are dealing with diverse cultures with distinct habits and survival techniques, where an exchange of knowledge and technologies occurred, and which were similar to the groups of hunter-gatherers and kayaking peoples found in Chilean Patagonia.

      (*) Tom A. Dillehay, Monte Verde. A Late Pleistocene Settlement in Chile. Vol. I Palaeoenvironment and Site Context. Vol II, The Archeological Context and Interpretation. Smithsonian Institutions Press, Washington and London. 1997.

      (1) Salisbury, David F, New Evidence About Earliest Americans Supports Coastal Migration Theory, Vanderbilt University.

      (2) Dillehay T, Ramírez C, Pino M, Collins MB, Rossen J, Pino-Navarro JD, (9^th May 2008). Monte Verde: Un asentamiento humano del pleistoceno tardío en el sur de Chile. Tom D. Dillehay, 2004, Editores Independientes S.A., Buenos Aires.

      (3) Susana Bandieri, Historia de la Patagonia, segunda edición, Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2009. pp. 30 & 31.

      (4) Tom A. Dillehay, Monte Verde: A Late Pleistocene Settlement in Chile, Smithsonian Institutions Press, Washington and London, 1997.