History
Although there is still some debate around when exactly the Americas were first populated, it is a now accepted fact that the first colonizers came from Northeast Asia across the Bering Strait more than 15,000 years ago. From there, they began to populate the lands to the south, and by around 13,000 BCE were leaving traces of their presence at Santa Julia, El Membrillo and Quereo, coastal beaches and ravines close to the present-day town of Los Vilos in Coquimbo Region. These ancient hunter gatherers were the first to inhabit the region, ushering in a lengthy cultural process that has continued to this day. After the extinction of the megafauna, the cornerstone of their early economy, these groups became experts in hunting smaller species, giving way to the Archaic Period.