Some researchers postulated that the cache might have represented a large habitation camp; a hunting toolkit, buried and then dug up for seasonal stalking of game; a ceremonial or funeral site; or a ritual offering to stave off ecological harm brought on by the eruption of nearby Glacier Peak, 11,250 radiocarbon years BP, even though the presence of large amounts of debitage and fragmented bone is a good indicator that the site didn't represent a cache at all and the Glacier Peak eruption is thought to have occurred over two centuries before the emergence of the Clovis culture. Some members of Northwest Indian tribes claimed the Clovis hunters as ancestors, and argued against exploring the site out of respect for the dead. The debate helped frame archaeologists’ relationships with local tribes in future research.