A man who may have lived alongside mastodons was in good health, had strong teeth, and had even recovered from a broken rib.
The “Man of Los Vilos” died nearly 12,000 years ago and his skeleton is the oldest belonging to a human ever found in South America.
Archaeologist César Méndez recently spoke to local media about the remarkable discovery.
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He explained that the bones were uncovered during a rescue excavation carried out ahead of work to reroute sewage pipelines.
The Man of Los Vilos was found beneath a shell midden – a site where ancient coastal hunter-gatherers discarded shells they had collected.
“He was beneath the shell layer – meaning he was older – lying on his side in a flexed position,” Méndez said.
The remains were discovered in 2012 at the Los Rieles archaeological site in Chile’s Coquimbo region.
Analysis indicates he was between 40 and 45 years old at the time of his death, as reported by Need To Know.
He was in good health, had strong teeth, subsisted on a fish-and seafood-heavy diet, and had even recovered from a broken rib.
“He probably ate sea lions, fish, and plenty of shellfish,” Méndez explained. “His diet shows a high nitrogen level, which we associate with marine-based foods.”
Remarkably, the Man of Los Vilos was not so different from humans today.
A homo sapiens sapiens, he was “part of the first populations to enter the continent”, Méndez said.
“He had all the physical, cognitive, and emotional capacities we have –he wasn’t much different from us.”
Living on the coast, he knew how to fish and harpoon sea lions, and he may even have encountered some of the last megafauna.
This is because remains of notiomastodon platensis – distant relatives of mammoths – have been found nearby.
However, “by that time, the megafauna was probably already in decline and was not a major resource for them”, explained Méndez, now deputy director of the Unit of Applied Anthropology Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
Although the Man of Los Vilos was unearthed over a decade ago, archaeologists continue to study the area.
“Imagine if there are 400 shell middens in Los Vilos,” Méndez asked. “How many men and women from that era could be buried beneath the soil?”
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