Modern populations may have experienced migration, forced relocation, warfare, epidemic loss, adoption, and intermarriage that complicate simple one-to-one comparisons.

And a rule that requires DNA can reproduce the original problem: institutions hold the remains until Native communities provide scientific evidence acceptable to those institutions.

The Spirit Cave case is therefore important precisely because DNA should not be misunderstood as the only kind of truth.

The test helped resolve a specific dispute.

It supported continuity that the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe had already asserted through geography, oral history, cultural understanding, and longstanding connection to the region.

DNA did not create the ancestor’s relationship to the land.

It changed what federal institutions were willing to recognize.

That distinction is essential.

How Repatriation Changed American Museums

When NAGPRA became law in 1990, museums across the United States held the remains of tens of thousands of Native people.