Abstract
When a 9,000 year-old Causasoid skeleton dubbed "Kennewick Man" was discovered in the Pacific Northwest in 1996, scientists began to research why such a person was in that geographic area when people of that morphology were not supposed to be present yet. Native American tribes claimed ownership of the remains under the Native American Graves and Repatration Act (NAGPRA) through the Department of Interior and sought to obtain and rebury the discovery. This article considers the divergent perspectives brought to bear on disposal of such unique ancient human remains and the litigation it has spawned in what has become a philosophical tug-of-war between those who want to advance science and those who want to recapture a lost history.