Still others have argued for preserving skeletal collections in secure repositories — neither on museum display nor reburied — where they could be available for future study under controlled conditions and with tribal oversight.

None of these proposals has become standard practice.

The NAGPRA framework remains the law, and its implementation — imperfect, contested, and evolving — continues to shape how American archaeology deals with ancient human remains.

The ancient Texans buried at Bering Sinkhole and Buckeye Knoll are already part of this story, through the specific decisions made about their remains and the controversies those decisions generated.

Their bones contributed what they could to the scientific record in the time that was available.