The 10,600-Year-Old Man From Spirit Cave – And The DNA Test That Helped Bring Him Home
The Courtroom, The Laboratory, And The Burial Ground
Few historical stories move through such different spaces as Spirit Cave.
The story begins in a burial place.
It moves to a museum storeroom.
Then to government offices and federal court.
Then to a genetics laboratory.
Finally, it returns to the earth.
Each space imposed a different way of understanding the same person.
In the cave, he was part of a burial.
In the museum, he became a collection item.