No one needs to minimize that value to understand the tribe’s claim.

The difficult cases are precisely the ones where both values are real.

If the remains had little research value, return would have been easier.

Because Spirit Cave was one of the oldest known North American burials, institutions had strong incentives to keep access open.

The fact that repatriation happened anyway demonstrated that scientific importance is not an unlimited property right.

That principle now influences debates far beyond Native American archaeology.

Museums around the world are reconsidering colonial-era collections, human remains, and objects acquired under unequal conditions.

The questions are similar.

Who found it?

Who made it?