Initially dismissed by archeologists, the Monte Verde site has become widely accepted as legitimate in recent years.
In 2004, the Clovis theory suffered another indirect blow when scientists in Siberia - in what used to be the western edge of Beringia - found a 30,000-year-old human site with tools fashioned from mammoth and rhino tusks.
The discovery showed humans had adapted to the extreme cold of the Far North thousands of years earlier than previously thought. It has also rejuvenated interest in Beringia, Le Blanc said. "If people got to the Arctic, I don't see why they couldn't have penetrated farther east." Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars has been amassing evidence from European researchers that shows chipped mammoth bones were used there as spear points more than 200,000 years ago - more evidence that the bone chips in Beringia were a widespread ancient technology.
And in July, Cinq-Mars plans to return to the region that ignited the controversy 30 years ago with hopes of finding more clues. He has received funds from the Yukon's Gwitchin First Nation in order to explore several sites, including the Bluefish Caves.
"There are layers there that have yet to be looked at which are likely to be older (than the original Bluefish find)," he said.
Cinq-Mars also has another mission for this trip - helping the Gwitchin village of Old Crow create a cultural centre to showcase the region's rich history.
In August, Le Blanc will also be poking around at another site called Gwizi Cave, about 60 kilometres to the north of Cinq-Mars's expedition. Le Blanc believes it, too, could yield more ancient remains.
Finding undisputed evidence of a pre-Ice Age human presence there, both men said, would force scientists to rewrite the history of the Americas.
"Beringia is the only site that explains the pre-Clovis finds," Le Blanc said. "The area has profound importance."
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40,000 to 28,000 years ago:
Age of chipped mammoth bones found at the Yukon's Bluefish Caves and nearby sites in the 1970s and '80s by archeologist Jacques Cinq-Mars and his team.
30,000 years ago:
Siberian mammoth hunters were found to have penetrated far into the Arctic by this period.
23,000 years ago:
The Ice Age entombs the northern hemisphere in glaciers, cutting off routes from Siberia to the south.
15,000 to 17,000
years ago:
Archeologists say people were living at Cactus Hill, Virginia, where stone tools and charcoal from a fire pit have been dated to this period.
14,500 years ago:
Humans were living in Monte Verde in southern Chile, where human tools, a dwelling structure and a person's footprint have been dated to this period.
Archeologists believe this is when receding glaciers probably first opened an ice-free corridor through Canada between Alaska and the rest of the Americas. The conundrum: How did people get to Cactus Hill and Monte Verde before this?
13,000 years ago:
People were living near Clovis, New Mexico, where tools from this era were found in the 1930s. This find gave rise to the widely held Clovis First theory that people spread through the Americas only after the Ice Age.
11,000 years ago:
As the Ice Age ends, melting glaciers raise sea levels 120 metres, submerging the land bridge between Alaska and Siberia.
Interesting. There are Alaska Indian stories telling of the snow God that chased the Indians south, but then the snow God was chased North again so the Indians could go back to their homes in Alaska.
I always figured they were accounts of some of the smaller glaciations - but maybe it was about the last big one!?