To understand why the Spirit Cave case carried so much weight, it helps to understand the world in which the individual lived.

Ten thousand six hundred years ago, the Great Basin was emerging from the climatic changes that followed the last Ice Age.

Lakes were shrinking.

Wetlands shifted.

Plant and animal communities changed.

Human groups adapted with extraordinary flexibility to a landscape that could be both abundant and unforgiving.

The archaeological record of the western Great Basin preserves evidence of people using caves, wetlands, lakeshores, and desert resources over vast spans of time.

Basketry, woven mats, sandals, nets, plant fibers, hunting tools, fish remains, and other traces demonstrate sophisticated knowledge of local environments.

The Spirit Cave burial itself reflects that world.

The woven materials associated with the body were not primitive accidents of survival.