It is a description of what genetic analysis is capable of and what it is not.

The researchers who conducted the study appear to have understood this, based on how they framed their findings.

The challenge is in how those findings are interpreted and reported by people who may not hold the same understanding of the distinction between what genetics can establish and what kinship means.

The concern that sometimes arises in discussions of Native DNA research — that genetic testing might be used to adjudicate Indigenous identity claims in ways that override or displace Indigenous peoples’ own understandings of their communities and their membership — is a legitimate concern even when the specific study in question does not make such claims.

The Sitting Bull DNA study was careful, ethically conducted, and did not overstate its findings.