In 8,400 years, the world changes enormously.

Cultures rise and fall.

Populations move.

Languages evolve beyond recognition.

The peoples who lived beside the Columbia River nine thousand years ago might or might not be directly ancestral to the peoples who live there today — and the scientific tools available in the 1990s and early 2000s were not yet adequate to answer that question definitively.

The scientists argued that in the absence of demonstrated cultural affiliation, NAGPRA did not apply, and the remains should be made available for study.

The tribes argued that cultural affiliation should not require a specific genetic link or documented historical continuity — that the concept of a people’s connection to their ancestral land and its ancient dead was not reducible to what a DNA test or radiocarbon date could prove.

They argued that their oral traditions, their unbroken presence in the region, and their spiritual obligations to their ancestors were sufficient grounds for repatriation.

The Clinton administration’s Department of the Interior, which had jurisdiction over NAGPRA compliance, issued a ruling in 2000 supporting the tribes’ position and ordering the remains returned.

The scientists appealed.