Most scholars still believe that humans first entered the American continents via the Bering Strait, or rather the land mass called Beringia, now submerged under risen sea levels. Conservative time frames peg this entry at about 16,000 cal years BP. If true, that would mean Monte Verde's occupants, or rather their ancestors, moved 10,000 miles in 1500 years, a pretty remarkable accomplishment.
One hypothesis supported by some scholars for how individuals traveled from Beringia to Chile is called the Pacific Coast Migration Model. The PCM model postulates that people moved southward from Beringia in boats or on foot along the coast line, and moved inland from there. If that is the case, then a thorough understanding of the marine sources of food and essential nutrients would be a given for people whose generations of forebears used that pathway. Interestingly, a recent variation of the PCM model is called the Kelp Highway Hypothesis, which predicts reliance of the first colonists on the marine resources in the kelp forests of the Pacific coast.
Although the site's differences from the Clovis model seem astounding, it is possible that what Monte Verde II shows us is what a typical PreClovis settlement looks like. If the PCM model is correct, many of the settlements of the first colonists are under water, submerged by the rising sea levels of the end of the Pleistocene, and unavailable to current archaeological techniques. If these settlements are eventually found, perhaps they too will reflect the lifestyle of the small permanent settlement of the Chilean coast.
Sources and Further Information
Pacific Coast Migration Model
Kelp Highway Hypothesis
Dillehay, Tom D., et al. 2008 Monte Verde: Seaweed, Food, Medicine, and the Peopling of South America. Science 320:784-786.
