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.
Yeah, I remember all of that when this was news earlier. I had also forgotten (but read on another recent thread) that Clinton allowed the site to be basically destroyed and useless for further study. I'm just so glad the courts allowed this to go forward. It would seem to me that in order for the Yakima to claim this person as an ancestor, they would have to have the bones examined/tested first, to prove their claim. Otherwise, is every bone found in the US deemed their ancester and thus not looked into?
susie
Absolutely. If they can get enough DNA to test, that would give so much more info. Fascinating stuff.
susie
Yes, some ancient skeletons have been found to have African features. There probably were different peoples who were ancestors. Some have even said the Chinese sailed here anciently. I just wonder how successful in business they were--ok, bad remark. We know the Vikings were here long before Columbus, so maybe other peoples besides Native Americans were too.
I have read about some interesting DNA studies that indicated there was some gene present which is found in Europeans from Spain and Portugal. There's also the Solutrean points and Clovis point similarities.
Lingustic studies indicate that the degree of differentiation between the several families of Native American languages might have taken up to 40,000 years to achieve and the center of linguistic differentiation was along the western coast of the U.S. All of this stuff is really very fascinating.
Some Native Americans have a hidden agenda in blocking these studies as they claim their ancestors were always in the Americas and anything which might refute that should be surpressed or couldn't possibly be right. Obviously these people are totally wrong.
Especially since the Columbia River runs toward the West!
I have been fascinated with it ever since I heard about it. I think I'm going to go travel and actually see a model of it.
Probably was a lot smarter than Picard. Stewart is a notorious anti-American leftist who got rich here and then criticized America. I think he a Canadian - must have some Tory or French blood in him.
Yes, I do believe there is an agenda for the claims. But then, initially, I guess I could also see how they might claim it. It sure has been a long court battle though.
Remember, Picard "evolved." He's part Borg too.:)
Thanks for the update however, we don't know anymore than we already did...unless, there is a more detailed report coming.
I have to interrupt your science-bashing, left-wing monologue to point out that it was Oswald's mother and brothers who had him exhumed based on the Warren commission findings. These were politicians, not scientists.
You can continue now.
I just refer to them as simple puns. Forget the French:).
Well the Vikings were here about 1000 A.D. and may have continued visiting for several hundred years until the Greenland colony collapsed.
These African and European markers date back long before that. Clovis was about 10,000 B.C. and the European Solutrean culture which resesmbles it predates Clovis. Teh African type skulls go back several thousnd years in South AMerica.
Some physical anthropogists believe that physical features are to a degree plastic, i.e. they are maolded and changed by environment and not by genetics so similar features may not necessarily indicate consanguinity.
Like I said, this stuff is really fascinating.
I hope so.
I like that - puns. You're right - forget the damn French.
Pass the Freedom Fries.
It is very fascinating for sure. I'll be following it.
Yes, it was stupid for the gov to destroy the site especially when a lot more was still left to be found.
Yes, the feautures may or may not be true to form, but it is still fascinating. I wonder how this would change the theories of the origins of the settllers here ro migration patterns.
Puns is much more simpler to say and much punnier too. Try making a pun with double entendree.
I think this political correctness gone amuck dating from the Bush I and Clinton eras.
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