A Lock Of Sitting Bull’s Hair Was Tested More Than A Century Later – And The DNA Confirmed A Family Claim
It is determined by the specific relationships — biological, adoptive, ceremonial, historical — that connect them to him within a living community’s understanding of itself.
The DNA study, by its nature, could only address the biological genetic dimension of this much larger concept of relationship.
It found genetic evidence consistent with a specific biological relationship.
It could not find — and made no claim to find — anything about the full Lakota kinship context in which the LaPointe family’s relationship to Sitting Bull is understood and recognized.
This limitation is not a criticism of the study.