What he adds to the broader picture is a data point from a specific time, a specific place, and a specific maternal lineage.

He confirms that humans were in the high-altitude terrain of the Colorado Rockies approximately 8,800 years ago.

He confirms that haplogroup B — one of the five founding maternal haplogroups of the Americas — was present in the interior Rocky Mountain region at this period.

He provides the most dramatic physical evidence yet found for prehistoric deep-cave exploration at high altitude in the North American interior.

These contributions are real and important.