Posted on 02/24/2006 5:51:38 AM PST by Spunky
SEATTLE -- Kennewick Man was buried by other humans.
That finding, which scientists have pondered for nearly 10 years, was finally confirmed Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists here.
The scientists also have concluded the ancient skull appears different than those of Indian tribes who lived in the area.
Scientists long had wondered whether Kennewick Man, whose 9,000-year-old skeleton was found 10 years ago in Columbia Park alongside the Columbia River, was naturally covered with silt or if others had laid him to rest.
The answer is he was laid out on his back, arms at his sides and palms down, said Doug Owsley, a forensic scientist for the Smithsonian and lead scientist on the Kennewick Man study.
The river was to his left and his feet downstream. His head was raised about 5 degrees so he was looking east toward his feet and the rising sun. His legs were straight and his feet slightly tipped outward, Owsley said.
He used an industrial CT scanner to study the skeleton in minute sections, and to examine a spear or dart point with a pointed end and stem that was imbedded in Kennewick Man's hip.
The point entered Kennewick man from the front, angled downward at 77 degrees, Owsley said. Earlier analysis had suggested it might have struck him from the back.
The point in Kennewick Man is "not a classic Cascade point," Owsley said. Cascade points tend to have two pointed ends and sometimes are serrated. He said scientists are continuing to study the point.
And Owsley said the spear point did not cause Kennewick Man's death. "It was a well-healed fracture," he said.
Earlier Thursday, Owsley told the Associated Press that there was "no clear indication in the skeleton of cause of death." Kennewick Man had undergone "a lot of injuries, this guy was tough as nails," he said.
In a private interview with the Herald before his speech, Owsley described how he and a team of experts came to their conclusions after hundreds of hours of studying the bones. They detailed the colors, fractures, sediment and mineral deposits of each bone fragment -- a complex 350-piece jigsaw puzzle.
"This requires more expertise than one person could muster," Owsley said. "We are doing a level of analysis that most people would not think possible, but it's because of this interdisciplinary team."
Many of Kennewick Man's bones eventually were broken by the weight of the earth above him, Owsley said, and other bones broke apart when the riverbank washed out. And some fractures occurred during his lifetime and had healed.
Kennewick Man is particularly significant because it is one of the most complete ancient skeletons ever found. And its skull appears to be unlike those of Indian tribes living in the area, Owsley said.
"We know very little about this time period. Who the people were that were the earliest people that came to America," Owsley told the AP.
But questions remain about where Kennewick Man may have come from, where the stone point in his hip originated, what he might have eaten and what his daily life was like.
About 20 scientists from around the country are in Seattle this week studying the bones to find answers to those questions. Algae specialists, bone fracture specialists and skull experts will continue to work to decipher the skeleton's riddles.
Owsley said they were able to determine many details about the burial from the scientists' first study last July.
The studies have been conducted in Seattle because Kennewick Man's remains are housed at the University of Washington's Burke Museum.
The bones surfaced during flooding in 1996. Most of them were uncovered during a two-week span in June when waves undercut the riverbank and the grave.
Two teenagers found the skull of Kennewick Man just a month later as they were sneaking into Columbia Park for Water Follies, the annual hydroplane races.
The rapid uncovering and discovery of the bones is why the remains are in such good condition, Owsley said.
"We should thank him for the opportunity to tell his story," Owsley said. "He's been very kind to us in terms of having observations that we can absolutely interpret."
The bones' discovery triggered a nine-year legal clash between scientists, the federal government and Native American tribes, who have claimed Kennewick Man as their ancestor.
A half-dozen representatives of the Yakama Nation came to watch the presentation. They were dismayed by what they said was the disrespectful way the bones were handled.
"Scientists have no respect for anything. I had to shut my eyes. It is not a comfortable feeling," said Larena Sohappy, culture committee chairwoman for the Yakama Nation.
a "chip" off the old block
Never watch an autopsy. The doctors do their job but have no more "respect" for the body then you or I do for our keyboard and monitor
&*(^&*^&^*&^*^(&^&***&(&^* stuck key!!!!!!!!
" the disrespectful way the bones were handled."
In my human anatomy class, we are identifying bone markings using human remains..... I guess I didn't think of how I was treating these things that used to be apart of a real human being. We just turn 'em to and fro. Touch them, use pointers on them and place them in boxes when we are done. However, I can't think of not one way to treat them more respectfully.
"A half-dozen representatives of the Yakama Nation came to watch the presentation. They were dismayed by what they said was the disrespectful way the bones were handled.
"Scientists have no respect for anything. I had to shut my eyes. It is not a comfortable feeling," said Larena Sohappy, culture committee chairwoman for the Yakama Nation."
You don't have to go to Saudi Arabia to find people with primitive views on science.
I wonder if anyone was president at the autopsy for JFK.
Not a very brillant comment. Only by investigating and questioning do we learn. Without science we would be .... like Muslims.
They might have a "bone" to pick with you then. You could always ask them to pick the bone with you though.
You mean the coroners are not like the ones on NCIS or CSI. :-)
This "ancient" skeleton gives someone "primitive" views no matter what. :)
They haven't coronered that market yet.
People change over time. That goes for appearances too. But the people Kennewick man was ancestral to, if any, might have eventually wound up on the U.S. East coast or even South America. Pre-Columbian people like the tribes after the European arrival moved around quite a bit.
LOL! I'll say! Right in the old pocket book. (As I think we all know)
Chattersly was saying that it might change some theories of NA migration.
I wish you would. I didn't remember (if I ever knew) that they had actually been able to do DNA testing. I know the skull and his height did not fit with the native population. Maybe....he was a time traveler! :)
susie
The tribes have been fighting this from the day he was found - and they got even more emphatic when evidence came to light that 1-he was older than previous "native American" ancestors, and 2-he was not genetically related to other "native American" ancestors. If they can prove (and it seems they have) that this person who was not a "native American" was here before ancestors of todays "native Americans" then their claims to being the original occupants of these lands fall apart, as does the basis for their treaties that grant them all of their special rights. Heap BIG political issue.
Probably.
I didn't read that.
There have been some skulls found in South America - very ancient ones, which exhibit African traits.
My own theory is that Native Americans had their roots primarily in eastern Asia, but there may have been admistures of people from Europe and Africa in ancient times - Europe in North America and Africa in South America.
Looks like Capt Jean-Luc Pickard of the Starship Enterprise.
I'm pretty sure they did some initial DNA testing. I'll check for sure though. Further DNA testing is warranted.
Nice double entendre (antendre ??? I don't know French - never wanted to learn it either.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.