Spirit Cave demonstrated why that assumption could be wrong.

The case also foreshadowed later changes in repatriation policy.

Federal regulations and museum practices have increasingly moved toward consultation, deference to tribal knowledge, and recognition that scientific uncertainty should not automatically become a reason for indefinite retention.

The broader transformation is still ongoing.

Thousands of Native ancestors remain in institutional collections.

But the ethical center of the debate has shifted.

The question is no longer simply, “What can science learn from these remains?”

It is also, “Who has the right to decide whether these remains should be studied at all?”

Spirit Cave helped force that second question into the center of American archaeology.

The Problem With Calling Him A “Mummy”