Commentary “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell’s frequently cited dictum encapsulates the contested terrain at issue between antagonists in the domain of archeology. On one side are scientists who uphold the tradition of disinterested inquiry into our species’ origins; on the other, an academic cadre so bedazzled by progressive theories of social justice as to privilege indigenous mythology over evidence-based science. Public attention was drawn to archeology’s internal strains by the controversy over the 1996 discovery of “Kennewick Man,” an 8,400-year-old Paleoindian skeleton in Washington State. Native American activists sought to repatriate Kennewick Man as, allegedly, a tribal ancestor of a contemporary nearby Indian community, before he could be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for proper study. They had no evidence for such a link, but the Department of the Interior took their side. The site was obliterated with 600 …