We don’t make a big deal out of it.”

This perspective matters in two ways for the skull mystery.

First, it suggests that for some Apache people, the appropriate response to the uncertainty about Geronimo’s remains might be to leave them undisturbed rather than to excavate, test, and rebury.

If Geronimo’s remains are at Fort Sill and largely intact, disturbing them for DNA testing might itself be considered inappropriate from a traditional perspective.

Second, it suggests that the question of what the “right” resolution of the Geronimo skull controversy would look like is not a simple matter that can be answered by pointing to NAGPRA requirements or DNA testing procedures.