Several other very old individuals have been found in the region, each contributing something to the picture of early Great Basin human occupation — and each raising its own questions about ancestry, identity, and the terms on which ancient remains should be treated.

Wizard’s Beach Man is perhaps the most directly relevant comparison.

His remains were found along the shores of Pyramid Lake in Nevada — another remnant of the ancient Lahontan Basin — and have been dated to approximately 9,200 years before the present.

Like the Spirit Cave Man, he was found in circumstances that initially obscured his true age, and like the Spirit Cave Man, his remains became the subject of a repatriation dispute.

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, who consider Pyramid Lake part of their ancestral territory and who maintain a reservation there today, claimed Wizard’s Beach Man as an ancestor.