I prefer to look for well-established evidence, even when it's hard to gather, hard to interpret, and subject to later revision. But the history of pre-Contact North America is neither a complete mystery, nor a record of stasis. Native tribes had their own history and shifting territorial boundaries, just as Europeans did.
The Apache and Navajo tribal groups of the North American Southwest speak related languages of the Athabaskan language family.[16] Other Athabaskan-speaking people in North America continue to reside in Alaska, western Canada, and the Northwest Pacific Coast.[16] Anthropological evidence suggests that the Apache and Navajo peoples lived in these same northern locales before migrating to the Southwest sometime between AD 1200 and 1500.[16]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache#Entry_into_the_SouthwestCompared to 8,000 years ago, that's almost trivial. Whole civilizations have risen and fallen in a fraction of that time. Anyone finding 8,000 year old remains in the Southwest can be sure they're NOT Apache, or likely any
modern tribe. And I doubt very much if knowing his remains were in the hands of one set of total strangers -- even the descendants of enemies -- rather than another would mean much to him.
If I found 8,000 year old bones in my backyard, should I declare it the remains a "True Son of the South" and suggest he be buried in a Confederate cemetery ? I'm sure everyone -- including me -- would consider that most inappropriate. We don't know that turning ancient remains over to modern tribes isn't just as inappropriate
BTW, your statement can actually be taken as correct -- in some regions. Not necessarily Minnesota.
The earliest identifiable tribe in Minnesota based on archaeological evidence is the Dakota, who began living here around the year 1000 AD. This was followed by the arrival of the Ojibwe in the mid-1700s. But archaeologists and historians believe Indigenous people began living in Minnesota as far back as 13,000 years ago, when the glaciers started to recede.
...
When French people first made contact with the Dakota in the late 1600s, they were centered in the Lake Mille Lacs area, Anfinson said. He said the Dakota were subsequently forced out of the Lake Mille Lacs area by the Ojibwe and headed south and west.
...
They had reached Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan by 1600, Madeline Island in Wisconsin by 1650 and Fond du Lac and Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota by 1745, Treuer said.
There were numerous battles and skirmishes between the Ojibwe and Dakota, Anfinson said. "There were casualties on both sides and it was very bitter," he said.
But the Dakota and Ojibwe were not the only tribes that lived in this area.
Members of the Ho-Chunk Tribe, also known as the Winnebago, lived in Minnesota. That tribe is now located in western Wisconsin and Nebraska.
The oral traditions of the Cheyenne Tribe, now located in Montana and Oklahoma, says they originally came from Minnesota before moving west into the Great Plains, Anfinson said. They probably lived here before 1700, he said.
The Ioway Tribe historically lived along the southern border with Iowa, said historian Bruce White. On the northern border, the Cree and Assiniboine also called Minnesota home, Treuer said.
https://www.startribune.com/native-american-dakota-ojibwe-history/600097050/So there's been substantial migration even in relatively modern times, not always brought on by pressure from expanding white occupations.
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