A group of scientists sued for the right to study the skeleton.

The case became national news and turned ancient Native remains into a public debate about ancestry, science, and federal law.

Early cranial analyses were used to argue that the Ancient One did not resemble modern Native populations closely enough to establish affiliation.

Popular media amplified speculative comparisons and sometimes suggested exotic non-Native origins.

Years later, ancient DNA again changed the picture.

Genetic analysis showed that the Ancient One was more closely related to modern Native Americans than to any other population tested.

The remains were eventually repatriated and reburied in 2017.

Spirit Cave and Kennewick were legally distinct cases, but together they transformed archaeological thinking.

Both involved very ancient remains.

Both became entangled in arguments based on skeletal morphology.