But repatriation was still not the final step.

The tribe intended to rebury him.

Coming Home

The Spirit Cave individual was eventually reburied by the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe in a private ceremony.

The privacy matters.

Repatriation is not simply a public historical event.

For Native communities, it can be a religious, cultural, familial, and ethical act.

The return of an ancestor may close a process that began with excavation and removal generations earlier.

Willerslev was invited to attend the burial.

That detail is striking because it captures how much the relationship had changed.