The expectation, based on existing models of Native American ancestry, was that an ancient Siberian individual from this period would show East Asian-related ancestry.

Finding instead a genome with strong Native American affinity but minimal East Asian affinity was unexpected — not impossible, given the uncertainties in the models, but not what the models would have predicted.

The process of verifying the finding — running additional statistical tests, checking the results against the contamination controls, ensuring that the result was not a methodological artifact — is the kind of work that scientific rigor requires when a finding is unexpected.

The repeated confirmation that the result was genuine, that the MA-1 genome really did show the Native American affinity and the minimal East Asian affinity, would have been a remarkable professional experience.