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Stone tools reveal Ice Age settlement in the Andes

"The fact that hunter-gatherers were physiologically capable of living in high-altitude mountains at the end of an ice age is an example of how amazingly adaptable our species is," said Kurt Rademaker.

By Brooks Hays
The Andes of southern Peru. (University of Tubingen/Kurt Rademaker)
The Andes of southern Peru. (University of Tubingen/Kurt Rademaker)

LIMA, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The oft-referenced list of highest Ice Age human settlements boasts two newcomers at the top, both situated in the Andes of southern Peru. Sone tools and other artifacts were found at both sites -- the highest of which sits at 14,700 feet above sea level -- indicating the mountain dwellings were part of a permanent settlement, not simply an exploratory stopover.

Dating to back 12,800 years, the settlements served as host to groups of Paleo-Indians, the earliest people known to inhabit the Americas. These mountainous groups likely split off from populations gathered among coastal fishing villages some 90 miles away.

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A team of archaeologists lead by Kurt Rademaker, a researcher at Germany's University of Tubingen, were compelled to search the Peruvian Andes after happening upon obsidian, a glass-like volcanic rock that they knew could have only been carried from the coast by humans, not any natural forces.

Their intuition proved well-founded, as the two newly discovered settlements not only prove ancient humans lived higher than previously thought but also moved into lofty elevations roughly 1,000 earlier.

"Human colonization of the Americas was the most rapid and extensive geographic expansion in our species' history, in which hunter-gatherers successfully settled some of the most challenging environments on Earth," Rademaker said in a press release. "The fact that hunter-gatherers were physiologically capable of living in high-altitude mountains at the end of an ice age is an example of how amazingly adaptable our species is."

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Rademaker detailed his team's discovery in a paper published Friday in the journal Science Magazine.

Bones collected from the settlements suggest the dwellers there hunted and feasted upon llama-like creatures called vicuna and guanaco -- predecessors of the modern-day alpaca. They also killed and ate deer-like animals called tarucas.

But why go so high up, where oxygen is less plentiful and the elements are harsh? Researchers say there would have been unique resource opportunities -- new animals to hunt, and a lot more water than the nearby Atacama Desert. The high altitudes would have also provided a sense of security.

But Bonnie Pitblado, an anthropologist at the University of Oklahoma who wasn't involved in the study, says a spiritual element may have been at play -- one only fellow mountain lovers can understand.

"For me, a mountain lover, it's inconceivable to think that people wouldn't have popped on up there to avail themselves of the unique resources in that environment at the first opportunity," Pitblado told Newsweek.

"Mountains are special places, and it seems to me that mountains have spiritual -- or in some way special -- significance to virtually all people who behold them," she added. "I predict that as Kurt and his team continue to work in the Andes, they'll find more sites."

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