Judge John Jelderks found that Kennewick Man cannot be defined as Native American
under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. A recent
amicus brief in the legal case regarding repatriation of materials from
Spirit Cave, Nevada, suggests that the Kennewick case should be used as legal
precedent, and that the remains of Spirit Cave Man are also not Native American. We
suggest that a precedent in cases of Paleoindian human remains is inappropriate and
unnecessary. We provide bioarchaeological, human variation, archaeological, social,
and cultural contexts of the Spirit Cave Man remains. These contexts indicate that
this case, and likely all of the few Paleoindian cases, is unique. Determinations of
repatriation of Paleoindians should be handled on a case-by-case basis.