Cueva Fell

Cueva Fell is an archaeological rock shelter in the Magallanes Region of southern Patagonia, Chile, noted for stratified remains of early human occupation. It is one of the southernmost sites in South America with secure late Pleistocene-early Holocene dates.

The site itself is a rock shelter with visible stratigraphic layers that have yielded stone tools, hearths and faunal remains; those materials are primarily of interest to researchers and archaeological visitors. Interpretive access at the place is typically limited; most public engagement comes through museum displays and academic publications rather than large on-site visitor facilities.

Excavations carried out in the 20th century documented the multi-layered deposits and produced radiocarbon dates that place human activity in the shelter in the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. Finds from the site have been central to debates about the timing and nature of the earliest human occupations in southern South America.

The shelter sits on the windswept landscape of southern Patagonia in Chile’s Magallanes Region, in a remote part of the Patagonian steppe and cold-temperate shrubland.

• Early dates: Archaeological deposits include stratified hearths, bones and stone tools that produced radiocarbon dates on the order of about 10,000 years before present, making it important for studies of early human presence in southern Patagonia.