Kennewick Man
Posted on 02/16/2005 10:58:59 AM PST by blam
Wednesday, February 16, 2005 · Last updated 8:04 a.m. PT
Tribes appeal Kennewick Man ruling, seek role in future finds
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KENNEWICK, Wash. -- Indian tribes that failed to block the scientific examination of the 9,400-year-old remains known as Kennewick Man are appealing a court ruling in hopes of gaining a role in future discoveries.
The appeal of a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was brought Monday by the Nez Perce Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Yakama Indian Nation, which claim Kennewick Man as an aboriginal ancestor.
"It's a fundamental right to protect the grave of your ancestor," said Audie Huber, intergovernmental affairs manager for the Umatilla Reservation's Department of Natural Resources.
The appellate court ruled in July that the tribes had no right to any role in the study because they failed to establish that they were related to the remains.
"They (scientists) have had a plan out there for quite a while, and they are negotiating it with the feds - not us," Huber said. "Our voice is not being heard right now. We need some way to participate."
According to the ruling, Kennewick Man was not covered by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, which requires museums or other agencies to return remains found to have cultural affiliation with an existing tribe.
The disputed bones are being stored at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Huber said the tribes' latest appeal was brought under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.
"There are thousands of collections of Indian artifacts, and the law says that there needs to be consultation with the tribes when those remains are studied," he said.
There is little chance the latest court action will have any effect on Kennewick Man studies, said Paula A. Barran of Portland, Ore., a lawyer for scientists eager to study the bones.
"The court said the case is over and you've (the tribes) already been heard," she said. "You have made these arguments and lost."
Even if the court fails to stop Kennewick man research, Huber said the case could still influence the handling of artifacts and remains that may be found in the future.
James C. Chatters of Richland, an archaeologist who recovered many of the bones from a bank along the Columbia River in this Eastern Washington town in 1996, said leading scientists plan to begin studies of the bones as early as this spring or summer.
"I am just holding my breath until it starts," Chatters said.
A chip in the shoulder blade area may hold clues to an injury to Kennewick Man before he died, and soil inside the skull may show where the bones had been before they were found in Columbia Park, he said.
"Every time you look at one of these individuals, something new comes out," Chatters said.
Kennewick Man
9,400 year old 'Spirit Cave Man' was found in a cave in Nevada. He is the oldest mummy ever found in the Americas.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Looks like Jean Luc Picard.
Kennewick Man...a mystery that may never be solved.
Kennewick man: a 9300-year-old caucasian skeleton in north america?
Bury the proof ping
Makes sense it was Picard.
Data's head was found in San Francisco, after all.
These people were all over the West Coast. Some of their ancestors even tried to steal a "newkweear wessle" from the Navy.
I am thankful for the ruling of the court.
The "Native" Americans were not necessarily Indians and it is time that we are freed of their oversight and ability to hide truth.
It was enough that Clinton tried to obscure truth about this subject. We don't need an on going impediment or taint to truth.
bttt
My thoughts too.
According to the most recent scientific research, there's a stronog possibility that Kennewick man was/is CAUCASIAN, not Native American.
Yep, I'll bet he was from the area of Russia.
Since when? Where is that right enumerated in the Constitution? What court decision can be cited to support that claim? Are the nations of Ireland and Scotland obligated to make sure my ancestors' graves (wherever they might be )are undisturbed at least for 9400 years? I doubt that seriously
I had my eyes opened by Jeff Benedict's book No Bone Unturned, which covered the discovery of Kennewick Man, and the subsequent battles over these west Asian/Caucasian (demonstrably not related to any existing Native American tribe) bones, which pitted the US Army Corps of Engineers against the scientists.
And you will have a fundamental right to remain silent and to get an attorney if you want one. You will also have a fundamental right to three hots and a cot as you await execution. Burial grounds may be sacred to you or someone else but the protection thereof does not rise to a fundamental right in the governing law of this nation. Tribal agreement may provide some but history shows the folly of depending on those documents. Read the constitution.
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