Posted on 06/30/2005 4:50:47 PM PDT by blam
Scientists to begin study of ancient skeleton over Indian protest
By William McCall
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:05 p.m. June 28, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. – After nearly a decade of court battles, scientists plan to begin studying the 9,300-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man next week. A team of scientists plans to examine the bones at the University of Washington's Burke Museum in Seattle beginning July 6, according to their attorney, Alan Schneider.
Four Northwest Indian tribes had opposed the study, claiming the skeleton could be an ancestor who should be buried. The Interior Department and the Army Corps of Engineers had sided with the tribes.
But a federal judge in Portland, backed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the researchers could study the bones to determine how the man died and to find clues to prehistoric life in North America.
"What they're getting is absolutely essential baseline information that has never been obtained for this skeleton," Schneider said Tuesday.
The bones quickly attracted attention from scientists after they were found in 1996 on a Columbia River bank near Kennewick, Wash.
The skeleton is one of the oldest and most complete skeletons ever found on the continent. The long, narrow shape of the skull shows characteristics unlike modern American Indians, raising questions that researchers hope to answer with extensive study.
"Understanding human variation is really critical," said Cleone Hawkinson, Portland anthropologist who founded Friends of America's Past to support scientific access to the ancient remains. "We can't close off an entire chapter in history."
She noted the eight anthropologists who filed the original lawsuit seeking access had to pay for their legal costs and the research, or seek funding for it. No government money was involved.
"It's all coming out of the scientists' pockets," Hawkinson said.
The researchers plan to do what is called a "taphonomic" examination of the skeleton, taking measurements and making observations about the processes that affect animal and plant remains as they become fossilized. Further study is planned based on the initial findings, Schneider said.
"Taphonomy is really a forensic examination," Schneider said. "You try to determine everything that has affected the skeleton from day of death until you study it."
A coalition of four tribes – the Umatilla, Yakama, Colville and Nez Perce – claimed the bones were covered by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and belonged to the tribes.
U.S. District Judge John Jelderks and the appeals court, however, ruled the tribes could prove no direct link to the bones and the act did not apply.
The tribes have appealed the most recent 9th Circuit ruling, but attorneys involved in the case and Jelderks' office said a decision still is pending. Calls to tribal officials were not immediately returned.
Legislation remains under consideration in Congress that would allow federally recognized tribes to claim ancient remains even if they cannot prove a link to a current tribe.
This may be an Indian story of the last of these people.
Professor Stepehn Oppenheimer in his DNA map titled Journey Of Mankind, shows a human entrance 25,000 years ago to the Americas that became isolated for a spell at/around the Meadowcroft site.
Yippee!!!!! I've been waiting for this.
It's almost certain, that's why some people are becoming frantic.
Um, and it could not. Claiming possession because it could be yours opens up some interesting possibilities. Probably not an option for Anglo-Saxons.
How about you start conserving with this site! You know, they don't make 'em like that anymore!
Seriously, these sites can answer some pretty interesting questions. Go easy.
"Essential to whom, for what? Interesting, maybe, but "essential"? Everyone's doing just fine knowing nada about Kennewick Man."
It's essential for science and for America because the vast majority of citizens past and present have been under the impression they "stole" the land, and that we don't belong here and that our voices should be silenced on matters such as immigration because we're "bad white man." What if it turns out white man was exterminated by the Indians? Or another people such as Polynesians? Maybe KM was mixed race?
I don't want my kids to be told they don't belong in America because of the color of their skin. That's what I learned. White guilt, enforced in history class.
This is monumental, regardless of the ethnicity of Kennewick man. We and all of our ancestors have been taught and untruth. It's now time to let all Americans know how truly diverse our nation is.
What is essential, tax chick, is that Americans don't learn the truth about their nation's heritage, because if we do, what do the so-called native Americans have to hold over our head for their government checks and casinos?
Interesting point.
We don't do racial guilt, so I'm left with "potentially interesting research," nonetheless.
"I've got relatives with long, narrow skulls. Maybe he's MY ancestor. Nobody asked ME if they could dissect him!"
I saw a video where a politically conservative pagan group (yeah, they exist) did some rituals over the bones. Kennewick Man's spirit is already home. So it's ok tax chick.
They already KNOW he's not related to American indian tribes. That's why the Indians finally lost the lawsuits.
The NA repatriation act assumes all old bones are Indian.
We need to kill the NA repatriation act, out of respect for the first inhabitants of America.
LOL!
"Wow! A small world! Our ancestors were rivals. Maybe I've got a piece of this action, too. My tribe called your tribe the "Skinny-heads". Of course, my tribe was called "The People". Sometimes, we kicked your asses; sometimes, you kicked our asses. MAYBE I've got a piece of this action, too! Let's sioux!"
There's an old Indian legend (transcribed in a southwest museum) about how the Pauite "burned alive in caves the last of their red-headed foe." Then a red-haired "Indian" surfaced from a cave in Nevada, or Arizona. Scientists were afraid of the implications of these and other finds that didn't comply with the legend that Indians were here first. Now that has changed.
"Yup. John McCain has introduced a bill that will give all human skeletons found in the US to the Indians = Zero study."
We already have that law, the native American repatriation Act. McCain knows that Act is going to be changed, so he's trying to head it off. Is he angling for Indian gaming money? What a traitor. Manchurian candidate in action.
KM had a clovis spear point embedded in him. I think the Indians invaded and wiped out these other people because they were xenophobic.
Ainu. See previous threads. From southeast Asia, Indonesia originally. Later Native Americans came from eastern Asia, Siberia or thereabouts.
I would take FReeper Coyoteman's advise. He's a professional archaeologist and has recently published a book on the Coastal Indians of California.
One of the...ahem...bones of contention vis-a-vis Kennewick Man is that his skeletal proportions suggest he is some race other than Asian/American Indian. Some scientists speculate that he might be CAUCASIAN.
As to why that is important, if scientists can prove that a caucasian man was here prior to the generally-agreed upon arrival of the ancestors of American Indians, it has HUGE political implications. Most of which would bad for the tribes.
Which is why they fought to keep the skeleton unstudied.
After all, how can American Indians continue to gin up the grievance machine with cries of "we were here first!" if someone can prove that someone else was here before they were?
There are some "Indian" sites around here that don't coincide with the culture of any Indian tribe. Maybe I'll investigate.
I believe that the word "essential" is used here in the context of the study of the skeleton. The baseline infomation is essential to any further study of the bones.
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