The results were unambiguous: the Kennewick Man was most closely related to contemporary Native American populations, and specifically to the Colville Confederated Tribes — one of the Pacific Northwest tribes that had claimed him as an ancestor.

The Paleoamerican hypothesis as applied to Kennewick Man was, like its application to the Spirit Cave Man, not supported by the genetic evidence.

In January 2017, the Kennewick Man’s remains were repatriated to a coalition of Pacific Northwest tribes and reburied.

The case that had become a defining legal battle over the rights of scientists versus the rights of Indigenous communities — a case that had gone to federal court and been decided against the tribes — was ultimately resolved the same way as the Spirit Cave case: by DNA evidence that the Paleoamerican hypothesis had predicted would come out differently.

The back-to-back genetic results from two of the most famous ancient American remains — Spirit Cave Man and Kennewick Man — effectively ended the Paleoamerican debate as a scientifically credible hypothesis.