The implications of this extend beyond the specific question of when humans first reached the Arctic.

They bear on the question of the pathway into the Americas.

If humans were above the Arctic Circle in northeastern Siberia 31,000 years ago — if they were adapted to the far northern environment, if they were comfortable moving through the Arctic landscape — then the pathway across Beringia and into North America was potentially open to human traversal much earlier than models focused on temperate-adapted populations would suggest.

Not that the Yana people crossed into the Americas — the genetic evidence suggests they were not the direct ancestors of Native Americans.