That history belongs, in the most fundamental sense, to the Indigenous peoples of the region — not because a legal framework requires that assertion, but because the simple fact of continuous occupation makes it so.

The question of how to honor that history, while also pursuing the scientific understanding that benefits everyone, is one that American archaeology and American law are still working out.

The sinkholes hold their dead.

The limestone keeps its secrets, yielding them up slowly to those who look carefully enough.

And the questions that the ancient bones raise — about who was here, how long they were here, where they came from, and what their relationship is to the living peoples of today — are questions that science is still learning how to ask, and still in the process of answering.

What Remains Unknown — And Why It Matters