Spirit Cave Man, the oldest human mummy found
in North America, is not affiliated with any contemporary native American
tribe, according to a preliminary finding by the Bureau of Land Management
director Bob Abbey.
The mummy, found 60 years ago near Fallon,
Nevada, was been kept over the years by the Nevada State Museum.
archaeologists have wanted to study the mummy, but NAGPRA (the Native
American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act) requires all ancestral
remains to be given back to a local tribe, if the mummy is an ancestor of
that tribe.
For the past four years, the BLM has
studied the mummy's cultural, biological, and physical evidence to
determine if it is indeed related to any modern-day tribe. The
conclusion reached by the BLM is that the mummy "pre-dates" any
cultural affiliation with the Northern Paiute tribe.
No studies are planned on the mummy at this
point, and written appeals must be submitted by October 2, 2000. Clearly,
the case will continue for some time.
