Peruvian scientists had reached the same conclusion. In various locations along the Peruvian coast, there are definite clues that the idea of collecting water from mist isn't as new as it had seemed. What we see here is a desert. But you can also clearly see that the situation used to be very different. You see terraces for agriculture, settlements.
Man moves into enclosure and even enclosures for livestock.
And yet the climate wasn't very different then. It may have rained a bit more but it can't have been very much. The climate has always been like this. And for growing crops, for people or even tending livestock there had to be a lot of water. The fresh water probably came from the mountains behind where we can still find remains of the forests.