Nevada tribe is apparent winner in dispute over Spirit Cave Man’s remains

CARSON CITY - The ancient remains of Spirit Cave Man may finally be going home.

Spirit Cave Man and other human remains were discovered in 1940 at Spirit Cave, an area near the Grimes Point petroglyph area 70 miles east of the capital and just east of Fallon. The area is near the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge, a wetland and remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan that once covered much of the area.

Officials of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe have been seeking the return of the naturally mummified remains of Spirit Cave Man, including artifacts buried with him, for decades, claiming the bones and associated artifacts belonged to their ancestors.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has resisted releasing the remains, which have been dated to be between 5,400 to 10,600 years old, saying that while the remains were those of Native Americans, they were not culturally connected to the tribe.

In the interim they have remained in storage at the Nevada State Museum.

The stalemate appeared to end on Tuesday, when the BLM’s Nevada office in Reno announced in the Federal Register that an inventory of the remains had been completed and recommended that repatriation to the Paiute-Shoshone Tribe in Fallon could proceed.

“DNA analysis illustrates that the human remains in the Spirit Cave Assemblage are effectively more closely related to Native Americans than they are to any other population,” it said. “The associated funerary objects contained within the Spirit Cave Assemblage manifest characteristics of Native American ancestry, including a rabbit skin blanket, moccasins, and woven mats. These cultural items are consistent with the raw materials used and the general types of items manufactured throughout the prehistory of the Great Basin.

“Therefore, the BLM Nevada State Office has determined that the human remains are Native American.”

Tribal officials have said they wanted to rebury Spirit Cave Man. Tribal officials could not be immediately be reached for comment Friday on how they will proceed.

In a statement, BLM Nevada State Director John Ruhs said he plans to transfer the human remains and funerary objects to the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Indian Tribe, the closest Indian tribe geographically to the burial site.

“While the BLM could not determine that the human remains were culturally affiliated with a modern Indian tribe, DNA results show Native American heritage, making transfer to a tribe living on aboriginal lands near the cave appropriate under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,” he said. “The BLM is pleased that resolution for the disposition of these ancestors is nearing conclusion.”

The BLM decision was reported first by the web publication Indianz.com.

Spirit Cave Man, named for the shelter in which he was found, has had an interesting journey since being discovered by archaeologists S.M. and Georgia Wheeler nearly 80 years ago. At the time, the remains were estimated to be about 2,000 to 3,000 years old.

But in 1994, scientists wanting to test a new type of radiocarbon dating examined the remains and others held by the museum. The stunning results from researchers at the University of California at Riverside showed that the man had lived along the marshes of western Nevada thousands of years earlier than previously believed.

That made him one of the oldest humans ever found in North America and the oldest mummified remains ever found on the continent.

‘THE BEST-DATED EARLY MAN’

“This is the best-dated early man in the New World,” Amy Dansie, an anthropologist with the state Museums and History Division, said when the discovery was announced in 1996. “We were absolutely astonished at the date of this mummy.”

The man, who stood 5-foot-2, still has black hair on his head and dried skin attached to his skull and right shoulder. He became mummified naturally in the cave where he was laid to rest. He was wrapped in a finely woven reed mat and wore intricately crafted moccasins made of three different types of animal hide. He also was wrapped in a woven hemp-and-rabbit-skin blanket. Three woven bags were found next to him, using plants still found at the nearby Stillwater marsh.

A medical examination showed he had suffered a fractured skull that had partially healed, and had abscesses that indicated gum disease and infection. He also had abnormalities in his vertebrae that suggest he suffered chronic back pain.

Former tribal Chairman Alvin Moyle, said in 2000 that Spirit Cave Man is an ancestor and should be returned to the tribe for burial.

“The ancient date of Spirit Cave Man goes beyond our oral history, which goes back 4,000 years,” Moyle said. “But in our view, we have always lived here. If they were other people here, where are they now? We’re still here.”

Spirit Cave Man became embroiled in controversy around the same time as another ancient human, Kennewick Man, found along the Columbia River in Washington in 1996.

Some scientists had theorized that these remains were not related to the American Indians now living in the West but instead represented a separate, and possibly earlier, migration of people.

But Kennewick Man was recently found to be related to the modern-day Native Americans living in the region and his remains will soon be reburied.

It appears as if Spirit Cave Man will soon be at rest as well.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.