Tribes Appeal Kennewick Man Ruling, Seek Role In Future Finds

Seattlepi.com ^ | 2-16-2005 | AP

[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.

[Varda]

The scientific evidence is that Kennewick Man is NOT caucasion but from an older group of humans.

Report on the Osteological Assessment of the "Kennewick Man" Skeleton
Joseph F. Powell and Jerome C. Rose

" The question of "Caucasoid" affinities for the Kennewick remains can be addressed, depending on how the term "Caucasoid" is defined. In the strictest sense, this refers to populations of western and southwest Eurasia-- peoples that live or lived in what is now Europe, the near East, and India. When defined in this way, Kennewick is clearly not a Caucasoid."

"The Kennewick skeleton can be excluded, on the basis of dental and cranial morphology, from recent American Indians. More importantly, it can be excluded (on the basis of typicality probabilities) from all late Holocene human groups."
http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/kennewick/powell_rose.htm

He's not a modern Indian either but that doesn't mean he may not be an ancestor. Biology and culture are exclusive traits. Whats important under NAGPRA is that he has no cultural affinity. So he's fair game for research.

[Varda]

There isn't any doubt that NAGPRA was needed because of the blatant double standard of so many Americans concerning Native burials.