Continuing a tradition begun at Monte Verde, the oldest site occupied by megafauna hunters in Chilean territory, the hunter-gatherers of southern Chile specialized in making use of the resources they found in the forests that blanketed these lands, which provided them with food as well as raw materials for tools, weapons, shelter and medicine.
Evidence of these groups has been found in the Marifilo rock shelter near Calafquén Lake, from whence they could access the lowland valleys or travel to the eastern side of the Andes. With the introduction of horticulture and ceramic making around 600 A.D., their way of life became a more sedentary one centered on growing food.