The dispute eventually reached federal court.

In 2006, the United States District Court for the District of Nevada found problems with the Bureau of Land Management’s handling of the evidence.

The court did not simply declare that the remains must immediately be repatriated.

Instead, it concluded that the agency had failed to adequately explain aspects of its reasoning and sent the matter back for reconsideration.

That may sound procedural, but it mattered.

The ruling recognized that government agencies could not dismiss evidence selectively or treat affiliation as impossible merely because the individual was exceptionally old.

The process had to be reasoned, documented, and defensible.

Still, the court ruling did not bring the ancestor home.

Years passed.

The remains stayed in institutional custody while the science capable of analyzing ancient human DNA improved at extraordinary speed.