Political communities change.

Technologies change.

Archaeological traditions appear and disappear.

Written records do not reach back that far in the Great Basin.

The tribe argued that none of those facts automatically severed the relationship between ancient people and Native descendants.

Federal officials were not persuaded.

The initial determination concluded that the available evidence did not establish the required affiliation strongly enough to repatriate the Spirit Cave individual to the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe.

The ancestor remained in the collection.

And the disagreement deepened.

When Age Became A Barrier