Here we go again. Another reason why one should be concerned about that proposed stealth amendment to NAGPRA that I've been writing about all month. Spirit Cave Man, whose mummified remains are older than the skeleton of Kennewick Man, was discovered in Nevada in 1940 and later carbon-dated to over 10,000 years before the present. The Nevada Division of Museums and History gives this synopsis of the legal history concerning Spirit Cave Man:

Spirit Cave is located on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). They are responsible for determining the fate of the Spirit Cave remains and associated funerary objects in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA). The Fallon Tribe filed NAGPRA claims in 1997 and 1999 requesting repatriation of the Spirit Cave remains from BLM. In 2000, after ongoing consultations and extensive scientific studies by both governments, the BLM issued its final determination that the remains were unaffiliated with the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone tribe and not a lineal (direct) ancestor. In 2002, however, the Fallon Tribe received a positive finding from the National Park Service, NAGPRA committee that the remains were, indeed, affiliated with their tribe.

The tribe used this recommendation to appeal their case to the Secretary of the Interior who assigned the appeal to the national level of the BLM. In 2003, the national head of the BLM met with the tribe in Fallon regarding their appeal of the state BLM's determination. In 2004, following their own review and study, the head of the BLM upheld the Nevada BLM's determination. The tribe will most likely pursue the matter in the courts at a future date.

Now the Fallon Paiute have filed a lawsuit to obtain the remains:

The Fallon Paiute have filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court of Nevada against the Bureau of Land Management. The tribe hopes to overturn the Nevada BLM determination that Spirit Cave man is culturally unaffiliated with any modern American Indians. It is our understanding that the Fallon Paiute have also filed to claim these remains. Evidently the suit was filed in late August and was 'lost in the DOJ shuffle' so the BLM just heard about this as recently as this past week. The BLM's reply to the lawsuit is due the last week of October. Spirit Cave man is older than the Kennewick Man. [Thanks DoJ! - mb]

I just received this alert so right now I'm just trying to find out more.

Posted by Moira Breen at October 24, 2004 12:28 PM