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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,...

Scientists plan to disclose their findings about Kennewick Man on Thursday in Seattle, nearly a decade after the discovery of the 9,000-year-old skeleton that attracted worldwide interest and sparked a lengthy legal fight. "Kennewick's story is finally going to get told," said Cleone Hawkinson, president of Friends of America's Past. Hawkinson has been working for years to ensure Kennewick Man's bones would be studied by the top scientists in the country. Kennewick Man's bones are significant to scientists because they are considered one of the most complete ancient skeletons ever found. Scientists have theorized he was about 45 years old...

The biggest study ever of calcium and vitamin D supplements for older women showed they offered only limited protection against broken bones, raising questions over what has been an article of faith among doctors and nutritionists. The supplements seemed to reduce the risk of broken hips in women over 60 and also helped those who took the supplements most regularly. But as to preventing bone fractures overall, vitamin D and calcium flunked in these healthy women. One of the researchers, Dr. Norman Lasser at New Jersey Medical School, said the study is "not as ringing an endorsement of calcium as...

When it comes to the body, they say you can't take it with you when you die. But they didn't say it should be sold from the back of a truck. Or that you should not have the right to give a fully informed consent for whatever it is that medical science wants to do with your remains. Recently it was revealed that a group of criminals was stealing bones from bodies at crematoriums in New York. They were then sold to for-profit tissue banks in New Jersey and Florida. Among the victims was the late host of PBS television's...

Bone loss is an often-overlooked consequence of heavy drinking, but recent research has illuminated how alcohol takes a toll on the bones, according to a new report. ADVERTISEMENT In a review of cell, animal and human studies, Dr. Dennis A. Chakkalakal of the Omaha VA Medical Centre in Nebraska describes how heavy drinking leads to bone loss, higher risk of fractures and slower healing of bone breaks. The main problem appears to be that alcohol inhibits the normal formation of new bone, Chakkalakal reports in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Though excessive drinking has been shown to promote...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Scientists said Friday they found a major cache of bones and likely complete skeletons of the long-extinct Dodo bird, which could help them learn more about the lost creature's physique and habits. The find is significant because no complete skeleton of a single Dodo bird has ever been retrieved from a controlled archaeological site in Mauritius. The last known stuffed bird was destroyed in a 1755 fire at a museum in Oxford, England, leaving only partial skeletons and drawings of the bird to go on. The bird was native to Mauritius when no humans lived there but...

LYME REGIS, England: The snout, teeth, vertebrae and ribcage of a 15-foot reptile that lived off the coast of England 190 million years ago have been found. Geologist Paddy Howe, who is monitoring work on the site in Lyme Regis, says the ichthyosaur looked a bit like a dolphin but was a reptile that swam in the sea at the same time dinosaurs roamed the land, the BBC reported Friday. The remains were found during work to prevent landslides along the coastline and took months to painstakingly remove. "Now it's a case of waiting to identify the exact species and...

Bones of dismembered warriors unearthed at ancient Tul Talesh TEHRAN, Oct. 12 (MNA) -- Archaeologists recently unearthed a great number of skeletons at the ancient site of Tul Talesh which are believed to be the remains of warriors who were dismembered and killed in battle, the Persian service of the Cultural Heritage News (CHN) agency reported on Tuesday. The skeletons were found without heads, feet, and hands in the cemetery of Tul Talesh, which covers an area of 350 hectares. Located 140 kilometers northwest of Rasht in Gilan Province, the cemetery is one of Iran’s unique ancient burial grounds. Tul...

Sturdy shoes first came into widespread use between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago, according to a US scientist.Humans' small toes became weaker during this time, says physical anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, who has studied scores of early human foot bones. He attributes this anatomical change to the invention of rugged shoes, that reduced our need for strong, flexible toes to grip and balance. The research is presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science. The development of footwear appears to have affected the four so-called "lesser" toes - excepting the big toe. Ancient footwearWhile early humans living in cold northern climates may...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The fossilized bones of a creature that might have been a mastodon were unearthed Tuesday in the creek bed of a suburban river being renovated for flood protection. The remains of what appears to be a massive pelvic bone, ribcage fragments and a tusk were uncovered along the Guadalupe River in San Jose. The river project has been cited as a model of how to integrate nature and development. The discovery prompted both wonder and frustration, as officials tried to determine the source of the remains but couldn't find experts to scour the site. "We've never...

Bones of ContentionIs a small, 18,000-year-old skeleton the older cousin of modern-day Pygmies—or a new human species? BY SIMON ELEGANT | RAMPASASA JOHN STANMEYER FOR TIMESMALL WORLD: Rampasasa resident Anggalus Jalur, 55, stands just 130 cm tall "In those days we ate our meat raw, like animals." The speaker is Viktor Jurubu, an Indonesian farmer in his 60s, who, in his T shirt and sarong, looks little like the cavemen he's describing. Except for his height, which is about 140 cm. In the world of anthropology, Jurubu's small size is big news because he and his 246 fellow villagers of...

First the antiquities thieves sold stolen ancient burial boxes. Now, they are trying to sell the human bones inside them as well. Israel's Antiquities Authority announced Sunday that they had thwarted an attempt by two Jerusalem Arab men to sell four Second-Temple ossuaries - and the human bones inside them - to Israel's disaster victims' identification organization for reburial. The 2,000 year old burial boxes, with Aramaic lettering on them, were dug up from an ancient Jewish cemetery located on the edge of east Jerusalem village of Issawiya, the head of the Antiquities Authority's anti-theft division Amir Ganor said. The...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A human skeleton found by three kids in Salt Lake City's Harvard/Yale neighborhood appears to be American Indian. Clayton Middle School students, Scott Paulsen, Alex Baker and Hayden Schofield were digging a fort when their shovels struck a bone. Paulsen said they thought it was just an animal and kept digging. The boys, all age 14, uncovered a portion of a rib cage and what appeared to be the back of a skull. Schofield told his grandfather about their discovery who then called police. Salt Lake City police Lieutenant Cray Croft say the remains were...

Anthropologists have built a "Frankenstein" Neanderthal skeleton, the first and only full-body reconstruction of the species. The result, announced today, is a shape no one expected. "It’s almost like making my own fossil discovery," said Gary Sawyer, one of the skeleton’s architects. Sawyer, an anthropologist at the American Natural History Museum in New York, and his colleague Blaine Maley of Washington University, pieced together the skeleton using bones mostly from an individual known as La Ferrassie 1. La Ferrassie 1 was missing its rib cage, pelvis, and a few other parts, so Sawyer and Maley had to scrounge around to...

Forgotten ashes await permanent resting place Boxes containing ''cremains,'' or ashes of cremated human bodies, sit on the floor of Virginia Humaniteks in Virginia Beach. CHRIS TYREE PHOTOS/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT By JASON SKOG, The Virginian-Pilot © December 16, 2004 It seems an odd spot for a final resting place, stacked against a bare concrete wall, between a cluster of old mop handles and a coil of extension cord. Yet, there they are: more than 250, each labeled with a five-digit code. Some containers are covered in a fine, chalky dust. Some have sat in this dark corner for almost a decade....

In surveys and focus groups, most Americans say they know what to do to protect themselves against osteoporosis, the disease of fragile bones that often occurs in the elderly: eat lots of calcium-rich foods or take a calcium supplement. Many say they are doing just that, or plan to. But this response worries osteoporosis researchers like Dr. Joan McGowan, chief of the musculoskeletal diseases branch at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Consuming calcium, she and others note, can at best make a small difference in osteoporosis risk, while other methods that can have a more...

Young bones lay Columbus myth to rest Giles Tremlett in Madrid Wednesday August 11, 2004 The Guardian (UK) A centuries-old historical row over the whereabouts of the body of Christopher Columbus appeared to have been solved yesterday when scientists in Spain conceded that the corpse buried at Seville's gothic Santa Maria cathedral was not that of the famous explorer. Instead, the bones they studied were probably those of his lesser known son, Diego, who was a small and weedy man, unlike his father. Christopher Columbus's body, the experts say, almost certainly lies back in the "new world" he sailed to...

New wrangle over Kennewick bones By Paul Rincon BBC News Online science staff The remains could reveal secrets of the settlement of the Americas The legal battle over the ancient bones of Kennewick Man has been won by the scientists, but they now face a new wrangle over access to the remains. The 9,300-year-old skeleton is among the most complete specimens of its period known from the Americas. Four Native American tribes that sought to re-bury the bones have announced they will not be taking their fight to the US Supreme Court. But they still regard the skeleton as an...

Actor James Doohan -- who played Scotty on the 60's "Star Trek" TV series, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Doohan's agent says the 84-year-old was diagnosed with Alzheimer's "within the last couple months." Agent Steven Stevens tells the The Associated Press that Doohan is in the beginning stages of the progressive neurological disorder. Doohan also has suffered for some time with Parkinson's disease, diabetes and fibrosis due to chemical exposure during World War Two and the D-Day invasion in France. Doohan lives in in Redmond, Washington, a suburb northeast of Seattle.

Moderate alcohol consumption could help protect women against brittle bone disease, according to a new study. Researchers at London's St Thomas Hospital examined the effect of alcohol on 46 pairs of identical twins, who drank either moderately or very little. The moderate drinkers - who drank an average of eight alcohol units a week - had significantly denser bones than those who consumed very little. The research findings were published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. Researchers focused on the bone mineral density of subjects, as measured at the hip and spine. Chemical markers of the bone turnover were measured...