Prior to modern humans was Homo erectus. If by people the scientists were including Homo erectus then they are just flat-out wrong because there has been evidence of them wearing clothing much earlier than 170k years ago.

""Peking Man," a human ancestor who lived in China between roughly 200,000 and 750,000 years ago, was a wood-working, fire-using, spear-hafting hominid who, mysteriously, liked to drill holes into objects for unknown reasons.

And, yes, these hominids, a form of Homo erectus, appear to have been quite meticulous about their clothing, using stone tools to soften and depress animal hides."

https://www.livescience.com/25887-peking-man-hominid-fashion.html