In the Kennewick case, the legal decision was ultimately made without DNA evidence, because the skeletal material did not yield usable ancient DNA for many years.

The scientific debate proceeded on the basis of morphology, associated artifacts, and traditional archaeological evidence.

In the Spirit Cave case, a different path eventually opened — one that would bring the question of ancestry to a definitive biological resolution, but only after years of legal deadlock and a partnership that required an extraordinary degree of trust between a scientist and a tribe that had reason to be deeply suspicious of outside researchers.

A Tribe’s Long Wait