The whale-migration theory maintains that settlements moved primarily to follow bowhead whale migrations. The author sees why it attracts interest: some coastal sites align with known whale routes. Yet the same pattern could arise from several different causes, and the chronology is too coarse to tell whether moves followed whales or responded to ice conditions and trading opportunities. The passage thus treats the theory as suggestive but underdetermined. The passage's qualification matters because the author's criticism concerns the theory's evidentiary reach, not the intelligence of the researchers who proposed it.