The red ochre that had accompanied him in his original burial — the same red ochre that had marked him and his artifacts as part of a ceremony of farewell twelve thousand years ago — was part of the conversation around his reburial.

The decision to bury him again, with appropriate ceremony, acknowledged that the investment of care and intention that had been made by the people who first buried him was real and meaningful, even if we cannot know exactly what it meant to them.

This act of reburial matters for reasons that go beyond sentiment.

It represents a recognition — embedded in the practical conduct of a scientific research program — that ancient Native American remains are not infinitely available for study and reanalysis.

The genome was sequenced.