Monte Verde eventually met even the most demanding standards.

Intensive scrutiny by a team that included former Clovis First defenders produced a conclusion that the site was genuine and its dates were valid.

The paradigm had to change.

But changing a paradigm is not the same as establishing an alternative one.

The fall of Clovis First opened the question of what came before and by what route, without immediately providing a clear answer.

The alternatives — coastal migration, multiple migration waves, earlier interior entry — each had supporters and evidence, but none achieved the clean consensus that Clovis First had once provided.