The Arlington Springs find did not prove the Kelp Highway model.

No single discovery can prove a migration theory.

But it was consistent with the model in every relevant way, and it demonstrated — empirically, not theoretically — that maritime capability was present on the California coast at approximately the time that coastal migration models proposed.

Before The Old Story Said They Should Be There

To appreciate what the Arlington Springs date of approximately 13,000 calendar years meant in the history of the Clovis debate, it helps to understand what the old story actually said.

The Clovis First model, at its most restrictive, argued not merely that Clovis people were the first Americans, but that no one could have reached North America significantly before Clovis because the ice-free corridor — the route through the Canadian interior between the retreating Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets — was not open until approximately 13,000 to 14,000 years ago.