Through radio-carbon dating, we can determine that the entire length of time the Chinchorro people inhabited this desert being from approximately 5,860 BC to 1720 BC. Also indicative through radio-carbon dating is that the use of the different mummy styles which are a good representative of Chinchorro culture chronology. This is in contrast to what several archaeologists originally speculated. They initially thought that the fishing tools of the Chinchorro would give chronological information; however, the tools just seem to differ according to local fishing strategies. Arriaza explains the relationship between the chronological record, the mummies and the Chinchorro culture best, “in Chinchorro studies, mortuary treatment represents a more powerful expression of group identity and ideology than artifacts do”.