The site was initially dismissed by many Clovis-first proponents, but after extensive peer review and site visits by skeptics who came away convinced, Monte Verde was eventually accepted as the first well-documented pre-Clovis site in the Americas.

The Paisley Caves in Oregon produced human coprolites — preserved feces — with radiocarbon dates placing them at approximately 14,000 to 14,500 years ago.

Cooper’s Ferry in Idaho yielded artifacts dated to approximately 15,000 to 16,000 years ago.

Site after site began to push the date of human presence in the Americas back beyond the Clovis horizon.

By the time the modern scientific work on the Manis site began in earnest in the 2000s, the Clovis-first model was already substantially weakened.

What was needed was not more evidence that people had been in the Americas before Clovis — that case was increasingly well-made by multiple sites.