Clovis first?

The "Clovis first" theory holds that people spread throughout the Americas only after the Last Glacial Maximum, as it would have been humanly impossible to journey across the ice sheets prior to the large corridor opening up.  As this corridor opened up, passage from what is now Alaska through Canada to the rest of the Americas became possible.  However, radiocarbon-dated evidence of earlier human habitation has been found, notably with artifacts from the Monte Verde site in Chile predating any Clovis artifacts by at least 1,000 years.  There is strong evidence of a coastal migratory route that predated the opening of the ice corridor about 12,000-13,000 years ago.  After all, if people populated the southern tip of South America by 11,000 years ago, they most likely began their journey long before this opening occurred.  Evidence suggests that after crossing Beringia (what is now the Bering Strait) the earliest humans headed south down the west coast of the Americas.  This migratory route is believed to have moved faster than that of the Clovis people traversing North America.  The Clovis first theory remains a hotly debated issue.