Humans lived at extremely high altitudes in ancient times, according to archaeologists exploring the Peruvian Andes.

The new research said the highest Ice Age settlement is located 14,700 feet above sea level and is around 12,000 years old. The settlement is packed with artifacts, including animal bones, rock shelters, food remnants, stone tools and primitive artwork.

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The place is called Pucuncho Basin and only a dozen of people can occupy it. These settlers were apparently hunters and gatherers.

The pre-historic humans steeled themselves to live in dangerously thin air about 12,400 years ago, researchers said.

Research also suggests ancient peoples in South America lived at extremely high altitudes just 2,000 years after humans first reached the continent.

"What this tells us is that hunter-gatherers were capable of colonizing a very extreme environment, the high Andes, despite the challenges at the end of the Ice Age," said Kurt Rademaker, an archaeologist from Germany's University of Tübingen, who led the research published in the journal, Science, on Thursday.

The research also answered the question of how these early settlers were able to physically adapt to sky-high living. The oxygen in the air is about 60 percent of that at sea level and altitude sickness can sometimes be dangerous.

Temperatures averaged 37 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) and solar radiation was high.

Rademaker said these hunter-gatherers genetically adapted quickly to this harsh environment or not.

Researchers will conduct further studies to look for additional evidence of occupation such as human remains.

TagsPeruvian Andes, pre-historic man, high-altitudes, archaeologist, south america