At Buckeye Knoll, that question was genuinely difficult.

The cemetery’s earliest burials date to 8,500 years ago.

Establishing a direct cultural and biological link between people who lived nearly one hundred centuries ago and any contemporary federally recognized tribe requires evidence that the archaeological and genetic record can rarely provide at that time depth.

The landscape of Texas tribes had shifted dramatically in the intervening millennia, through migrations, extinctions of specific groups, absorptions, and the catastrophic depopulation that followed European contact.

Controversy arose over the conflict between scientific priorities and those of various Native American groups.