The arithmetic of that journey — from Beringia at 24,000 years ago to southern Chile at 14,500 years ago — works out.

A population that was established in eastern Beringia by 24,000 years ago, that waited through the Last Glacial Maximum until the routes south opened, and that then dispersed rapidly through the Americas, could have reached the southern tip of South America by 14,500 years ago with time to spare.

Without the Bluefish Caves evidence — or something like it — the story of how people got to Monte Verde is incomplete.

We have the endpoint (Monte Verde at 14,500 years), and we have the genetic models suggesting Beringian isolation before the dispersal, but we lack direct evidence of the people who were in Beringia waiting for the routes to open.