I thought they carbon dated them shortly after discovery.
Anyway, the issues, as I recall, were that the skeleton did not resemble paleo-Americans, plus, the bones revealed a coastal or maritime diet, that was hundreds of miles away.
I also read an article in National Review in the 1990s that disclosed that significant parts of the skeleton had “disappeared” from the lab, and that the skeleton had been handled by un-gloved tribal elders
I'm a science and technology guy, so I was very disturbed that something this rare would have to be turned over to self-identified Native Americans with no known relationship to the bones, instead of being available for continued research and museum display.
And if I’m recalling correctly, Clinton had the site of the discovery plowed under, then paved. Thank goodness it’s only aboriginals who get upset when science intersects with their myths. Oh, wait...
“that the skeleton did not resemble paleo-Americans”
I think that was “did not resemble Native Americans”. Which was part of the original erroneous description. Paleo people looked different than their descendants. They could also travel further than a lot of people believe.
If tribal elders handled the bones that can only be because of NAGPRA. They don’t have a cultural affiliation but the DNA test showed he’s related to the local tribes. I think that’s really interesting.