Those tensions are deep and ongoing, and reasonable people — including many Indigenous scholars — disagree about whether any research model can adequately respect Indigenous sovereignty over ancestral remains while still allowing meaningful scientific investigation.

The Spirit Cave case is not a template that can simply be applied everywhere.

It was specific to the particular relationship that developed between Willerslev and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, in a specific legal and cultural context.

But it demonstrated that a different relationship was possible — one in which science and Indigenous governance did not have to be in fundamental opposition.

The Western Stemmed Tradition And The Pre-Clovis World