Advances in ancient-DNA analysis may allow more complete genomic characterization.

Advances in paleoproteomic analysis — the study of proteins preserved in ancient bone — may provide additional biological information.

Environmental analysis of the cave sediment may add detail to the ecological and paleoclimatic reconstruction of the period.

The cave’s time capsule has not yet given up all of its contents.

The Connection to the Living

The most important dimension of the Shuká Káa story is not the science, as remarkable as that science is.

It is the connection between the ancient man in the cave and the living people who count him among their ancestors.