Graham Hancock on archaeology: what the evidence says · JRE #2136
SUBJECT: ARCHAEOLOGY
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Tom Dillehay discovered the site of, excavated the site of Monteverde in Chile, and he found evidence that human beings had been there 14,000, maybe as much as 18,000 years ago in the deep south of South America.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Tom D. Dillehay of Vanderbilt University did excavate Monte Verde in south-central Chile, and the main Monte Verde II occupation is dated to about 14,500 calibrated years before present, a figure now widely accepted as pre-Clovis evidence for the peopling of the Americas. A 2015 PLOS ONE paper led by Dillehay reported additional, more sporadic material from the older Monte Verde I and nearby Chinchihuapi horizons that the authors radiocarbon and luminescence dated to between about 14,500 and as early as 18,500 to 19,000 cal BP. Hancock's figures of 14,000 and as much as 18,000 years track both horizons closely, and his hedging language matches the fact that the older date is far more contested than the roughly 14,500-year MV-II layer, which even Dillehay treats more cautiously. The framing is accurate, though the older figure remains disputed and a 2026 study challenging even the MV-II date drew sharp rebuttals from dozens of researchers.