Kennewick Man
Posted on 04/06/2005 11:02:33 AM PDT by blam
Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - Page updated at 01:17 p.m
Kate Riley / Times staff columnist
Another bone of contention over Kennewick Man
Kennewick Man is poised to tell his secrets.
Almost nine years after the 9,300-year-old remains were found on the banks of the Columbia River and a fierce legal battle, federal courts agreed unequivocally scientists should be able to study Kennewick Man.
However, U.S. Sen. John McCain has colluded with those who want to stifle the stories of similar old bones and the light they can shed on the earliest Americans and where they came from. The Arizona Republican, who is chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, supported a sweeping policy change in Senate Bill 536, which is billed erroneously as a technical corrections bill.
At the risk of invoking our former president's imbroglio, the issue really does boil down to what the definition of "is" is.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act currently defines "Native American" as "of, or relating to, a tribe, people, or culture that is indigenous to the United States."
That wording was key to the scientists' victory in federal court, because it required proof of connection to modern tribes. But tribes who sought to bury Kennewick Man could not prove a link. In fact, limited studies found the remains more closely resembled the Ainu of Japan than modern, Native American tribes.In response to the federal court ruling, the Indian Affairs Committee approved SB 536, which would insert two seemingly innocuous words into the repatriation law. It would read: "... is, or was, indigenous. ... " That means modern tribes could claim remains with no discernible link to them except that they were found in an area where the tribes lived.
Proving a connection over more than 400 generations is problematic. How can we know the extent of early migration 10,000 years ago?
If a possible connection between Kennewick Man and the Ainu is substantiated, would the tribes really want to deprive the Ainu of news of their long-lost wandering relative?
"The effect is to push science and scientists out of the picture," says Alan Schneider, a lawyer for the scientists in their federal court battle. "The issue would be solely between the government and the tribes."
A member of the committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., raised concerns about such a substantive policy change being tucked into a technical corrections bill. But she voted for it because of other items in the bill. Another Northwest senator, Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon, also serves on the committee.
The Society for American Archeology, while generally supportive of the change, objected to a similar effort last year because there was no hearing: The society said, " ... we are strongly opposed to the process through which this amendment is being put forward."
The battle over Kennewick Man and other ancient remains, found and yet to be found, is a battle between sincere intentions.
Many tribes believe Kennewick Man and other ancient remains are ancestors. It disturbs them because the remains are not buried in accordance with their beliefs.
The repatriation act is a righteous law that sought to put an end to desecration of Native American burial sites and to return ancestral remains and artifacts to descendants.
But the scientists are not grave robbers with ill intent. Their values are to preserve the bones and study them in the least intrusive way possible. Among them is Doug Owsley, curator and division head for physical anthropology at the Smithsonian's National Museum, who has studied more recent remains to facilitate repatriation.
The repatriation law does not adequately address remains like Kennewick Man and others exceptional in their age and physically distinct from modern-day tribes that would claim them. U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, D-Pasco, previously introduced legislation to amend the repatriation act to ensure these ancient remains not linked to modern tribes could be studied.
He set the effort aside, pending the federal court case. But given this threat to scientific inquiry in the Senate, he should consider reintroducing it — and push this debate back into the open before the secrets of the earliest Americans are stifled.
Kate Riley's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is kriley@seattletimes.com
Professor Stephen Oppenheimers' worldwide DNA study indicates that five waves of immigrants came into the Americas and at least one wave were these Ainu types. Another wave were the people sharing the "X" gene with some Europeans.
You can pass a law saying that an apple is an orange, but it is still an apple.
Political correctness is, as always, making every effort to stifle the truth and continue revising history. The story of Kennewick Man, since the discovery of his bones along the Columbia River, should have academia outraged. At least that part of academia that's not preoccupied with celebrating 'diversity' or eradicating Christianity.
So let me get this straight... If ANY human remains are found, the tribes can claim them and no one will be allowed to investigate? Maybe the mafia will try to cozy up with the tribes to take advantage of this.
Kennewick Man
It looks like some Native Americans and political whores and elites are definitely afraid to let us follow truth wherever it may lead. Heaven forbid we discover something that could undermine current assumptions about ancient history in America.
Isn't That Jean Luc Picard? Have they been messing with the space-time continuum AGAIN?????
9,400 Year Old Spirit Cave Man, the oldest mummy ever found in the Americas.
True. But you can still convince most people it was an orange after you've destroyed the apple. That's what's happening here. This is a total perversion of science. McCain is a pandering idiot.
LOL... that's not Kennewick Man, that's Patrick Stewart, man!
10,500 Year Old Luzia, until recently, the oldest human skeleton found in the Americas, Brazil.
Hey~! Thats James Carville!
Can anyone explain to me how they can determine that the bones are 9300 years old, when carbin dating is only good to 6000 years.
Hey...I recognize that guy! He made sushi for me last week!
Hey, that guy's obviously my ancestor! I have a deep spiritual affinity with him.
OK, so where's my casino?
"*Skeletal remains of 169 people, split almost evenly between males and females, ranging from 6 to 70 years old. About 75 of the skeletons were relatively intact.
*90 intact human brains that include the oldest DNA samples in the World.
*Artifacts of wood, bone, and seed that were made into jewelry and tools, providing insight into the ancient peoples' lives.
*Tests showed the oldest skeletons were buried 8,100 years ago. The youngest was placed in the ground 6,900 years ago. "To put this into context," Doran said, "these people had already been dead for 3,000 or 4,000 years before the first stones were laid for the Egyptian pyramids!"
Jean Luc Picard? Is that you?
Where'd you hear that?
50,000 years is the accepted figure for Carbon 12/nitrogen-14 dating.
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