The genetics confirms a biological relationship.

The matrilineal clan system provides a cultural framework for understanding what that relationship means and what it implies for the obligations and connections between the living and the dead.

What The Living Relatives Said

The response of the seventeen people whose DNA matched Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi’s — and of the broader communities involved in the project — is part of the story in ways that the scientific literature does not always capture.

For many of the individuals whose DNA was found to match the ancient man’s, the finding was not merely a scientific result.