The people who did this collecting operated within a framework that did not recognize Native American communities’ claims to their own dead, their own history, or their own cultural patrimony.

NAGPRA, passed in 1990, represented a legal acknowledgment that this framework was wrong and that its effects needed to be addressed.

The repatriation of thousands of individuals’ remains to their communities of origin is ongoing, imperfect work.

The Geronimo skull mystery sits within this larger history.

It is a high-profile, celebrity-connected instance of what was a widespread practice.

The specific individuals alleged to have removed the remains are more famous than most — the Prescott Bush connection gives the story political dimensions that most grave robberies do not have.

But the underlying dynamic — powerful people treating Indigenous remains as available for their use — was not unique.