Science: Some Bones of Contention

The first Californians are challenging archaeologists

In a meadow near Eureka, Calif., on the state's rocky northern coast, 50 Yurok Indians gathered for an unusual ritual. After three younger members of the tribe hollowed out a bit of earth, a Yurok leader reverentially placed seven bags in the hole. Ella Norris, 83, the tribe's oldest member, moved forward. Raising her eyes toward the sky, she said a prayer in English and in the language of her forebears: "We are sorrowful for the sacrilegious actions of the past. May these remains lie peacefully at...