The Sitting Bull study was conducted with full family consent and participation.

It was designed to answer questions the family found worth answering, using methods appropriate to the material, and it was published in ways that carefully framed the findings without overstating them.

In these respects, it represents a model of how genetic research involving Indigenous communities and ancestral remains can be conducted ethically.

But the existence of a well-conducted study does not answer the question of what standards should apply to less carefully conducted research.

The field of ancient DNA research has a history that includes studies conducted on human remains without meaningful engagement with the communities those remains came from — studies where the scientific interest of the researchers was treated as sufficient justification for the research, regardless of how the communities felt about their ancestors being studied.