The combination of directly dated biological specimens, multiple lines of independent confirmation, and associated archaeological and environmental data makes it a model for how pre-Clovis evidence should be documented and defended.

The caves themselves, and the long sediment archive they contain, will continue to be investigated.

Each field season at the site has the potential to produce new evidence that extends, refines, or complicates the picture that current research has established.

The science is not finished.

The debate is not closed.

And the humble, remarkable object at the center of the story — the preserved biological trace of people who lived in the Oregon Great Basin 14,200 years ago — continues to have more to say.

— COMPLETE FINAL END —