The Tribe’s position was consistent throughout: the Spirit Cave Man was their ancestor, found in their homeland, and they had both the right and the responsibility to receive him and provide him with the respectful treatment that their traditions required.

The legal system’s failure to recognize that connection was not, for the Tribe, a scientific matter.

It was a matter of justice.

The deadlock persisted for nearly two decades.

Then a Danish scientist named Eske Willerslev approached the Tribe with a proposal that was unusual enough to be worth considering.

The Scientist And The Trust That Was Earned

Eske Willerslev was not an ordinary archaeologist.

He was one of the founders of the modern field of ancient DNA research — one of the scientists who had developed and refined the techniques for extracting genetic material from ancient remains and using it to address questions about human population history that traditional archaeological methods could not answer.