The discoveries are the subject of debate as they apparently contradict the longstanding "Clovis first" view for the settlement of humans in the Americas, which holds that the first inhabitants of the continent were representatives of the Clovis culture, which began roughly 11,500 BP [REF].
The mainstream view of the peopling of the Americas, also known as the short chronology theory, is that the first movement beyond Alaska into the New World occurred no earlier than 15,000 - 17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants [REF].