The scientist whose team helped extract genetic information from the ancestor was present when the tribe returned him to the earth.

The story could easily have ended as a permanent conflict between science and Native sovereignty.

Instead, cooperation became part of the resolution.

That does not mean the previous dispute disappeared.

The tribe still had to spend years pursuing the return of an ancestor found in its homeland.

Testing still became necessary in a process that many tribal advocates believed should have recognized other forms of evidence earlier.

But the final burial made one fact clear.

The Spirit Cave individual was no longer a museum object.

He was home.

Why The Great Basin Matters