Highest Ice Age human camp discovered in Peruvian Andes: Ancient tools suggest people lived in mountain ranges 1,000 years earlier than thought

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The migration of early humans out of Africa went further and higher than previously thought.

The new theory is based on discoveries suggesting that the inhabitants of Easter Island had contact with people in South America, who built the highest Stone Age village in the world.

The camp in the southern Peruvian Andes was built at 4,500 metres above sea level (masl) and experts say the site dates high-altitude human habitation nearly a millennium earlier than previously documented.

A rock shelter in the southern Peruvian Andes was built at 4,500 metres above sea level and experts say the site dates high-altitude human habitation nearly a millennium earlier than previously documented. Cunchaicha rock shelter is pictured

In the face of cold temperatures, high solar radiation and low oxygen conditions, hunter-gatherers managed to colonise the remote, treeless landscapes about 12,000 years ago - within 2,000 years of humans arriving in South America.

The Pucuncho archaeological site revealed 260 formal tools, such as projectile points and unifacial scrapers up to 12,800 years old.

Archaeologists from the University of Maine said that Cuncaicha rockshelter, which includes two alcoves at 4,480masl, contains contains a ‘robust, well-preserved and well-dated occupation sequence’ up to 12,400 years old.

In the face of cold temperatures, high solar radiation and low oxygen conditions, hunter-gatherers managed to colonise the remote, treeless landscapes about 12,000 years ago - within 2,000 years after humans arrived in South America. An image if the inhospitable Pucuncho Basin is pictured

The Pucuncho archaeological site revealed 260 formal tools, such as projectile points, nondiagnostic bifaces and unifacial scrapers up to 12,800 years old. Here, archaeologists  excavate the Cuncicha rock shelter

They believe that it was probably used as a base camp, because the rock shelter has good views of wetlands and grasslands, rock art and sooted ceilings, suggesting fires were once lit there.

Most of the tools recovered at Cuncaicha were made locally from rocks such as obsidian, andesite and jasper and hint at the type of hunting and butchering that would have taken place on the plateau.

Bones at the site indicate that the Stone Age hunters ate vicuña and guanaco camelids - who belong to the llama family - as well as taruca deer, according to the study, published in the journal Science.

The archaeologists believe that Pucuncho Basin was a high-altitude oasis for hunting as it was filled with herds of vicuña and later, alpacas and llamas.

Evidence suggests the site was occupied for a long time.

Sonia Zarrillo, of the University of Calgary, Canada, told The Independent: 'We don't know if people were living there year round, but we strongly suspect they were not just going there to hunt for a few days.'

'There were possibly even families living at these sites, because we've found evidence of a range of activities.'

While the basin could have been called home for the entire year, experts think that wet-season storms, the dangers of hypothermia and the need to collect plants and meet other people, may have encouraged ancient settlers to make regular journeys to lower ground.

Experts believe that high altitude rock shelter was probably used as a base camp, because the it has good views of wetlands and grasslands, rock art and sooted ceilings, suggesting fires were once lit there. Here, archaeologists search for stone tools at the Cuncaicha rock shelter

The discovery of some tools support this theory because some seem to be polished by streams, which means that the hunters must have visited high-energy rivers at lower elevations.

It is unclear whether the high-altitude human settlement required genetic or environmental adaptations.

But with evidence of high-altitude human habitation almost 900 years earlier than previously documented, the implication is that Pleistocene humans may have evolved greater physiological capabilities.

‘The Pucuncho Basin sites suggest that Pleistocene humans lived successfully at extreme high altitude, initiating organismal selection, developmental functional adaptations and lasting biogeographic expansion in the Andes,’ the researchers wrote.

‘As new studies identify potential genetic signatures of high-altitude adaptation in modern Andean populations, comparative genomic, physiologic and archaeological research will be needed to understand when and how these adaptations evolved.

Kurt Rademaker, visiting assistant professor at the university, said: ‘The study of human adaptation to extreme environments is important in understanding our cultural and genetic capacity for survival.’

The discovery of some tools found near the ancient shelter sugests that materials were colected from lower altitudes, because some seem to be polished by streams, which means that the hunters must have visited high-energy rivers at lower elevations