Tom Dillehay is an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

who is the Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Religion, and Culture and Professor of Anthropology at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. In addition to Vanderbilt, Dillehay has taught at the

Universidad Austral de Chile Austral University of Chile ( es, Universidad Austral de Chile or UACh) is a Chilean research university based primarily in Valdivia, with a satellite campus in Puerto Montt. Founded on September 7, 1954, it is one of the eight original Chilean Tr ...

and the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. Since 1977, Dillehay has been involved in the excavations at

Monte Verde Monte Verde is an archaeological site in the Llanquihue Province in southern Chile, located near Puerto Montt, Southern Chile, which has been dated to as early as 18,500 cal BP (16,500 BC). Previously, the widely accepted date for early occup ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, where an early human settlement was found in 1975. Dillehay claims that the remains are about 14,800 years old according to the calibrated dates of carbon 14. The data suggest that people might have been in South America before 15,000 years ago and challenging the

Clovis theory The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 ...

of the first human arrival in the Americas.Dillehay, Tom D.; Carlos Ocampo; José Saavedra; Andre Oliveira Sawakuchi; Rodrigo Vega; Mario Pino; Michael Collins; Linda Scott Cummings; Iván Arregui; Ximena Villagran; Gelvam Hartmann; Mauricio Mella; Andrea González & George Dix (2015). «New Archaeological Evidence for an Early Human Presence at Monte Verde, Chile». PLoS ONE. 10 (11): e0141923. . In addition to his archaeological work, Dillehay has conducted ethnographic work among the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

of southern

and the Jívaro of northern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Publications

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References

External links

Anthropology in Universidad Austral

Vanderbilt University Anthropology Department
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About Tom Dillehay
at The Archaeology Channel American anthropologists Anthropology educators Vanderbilt University faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Austral University of Chile faculty Historians of the Mapuche world {{US-anthropologist-stub