Posted on 04/10/2005 5:51:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Scientists hoping to study the ancient skeleton known as Kennewick Man are protesting legislation they say could block their efforts. They say a two-word amendment to a bill on American Indians would allow federally recognized tribes to claim ancient remains even if they cannot prove a link to a current tribe.
Scientists fear the bill, if enacted, could end up overturning a federal appeals court ruling that allows them to study the 9,300-year-old bones.
The skeleton was discovered in 1996 along the Columbia River near Kennewick, Wash., and has been the focus of a bitter nine-year fight.
The scientists successfully opposed a similar bill in the last Congress sponsored by then-Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Campbell retired in January, but the bill has been revived in this Congress by the panel's new chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
"What they are trying to do is to change the statute so that it comes up with the absurd result that tribes can now claim skeletons to which they have no cultural connection," said Alan Schneider, a Portland, Ore.-based attorney for the scientists.
It is far from certain what tribe, if any, Kennewick Man would be assigned to, Schneider said: "He may not even be Indian at all."
Rob Roy Smith, an attorney for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington state, said the bill would apply to future archaeological finds, and would strengthen the case of tribes across the country that want to claim and bury ancient remains.
"This is a congressional effort to right a wrong ... that was identified through the Kennewick Man case," Smith said, but it would not affect the case itself. The disputed bones are being stored at the Burke Museum in Seattle.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
I don't know a lot about Kennewick Man BUT I do see KM is an object of fascination on stormfront. I don't get why KM is such a political hotpotato.
Even if KM wasn't of asian origin how does this change the situation with how the US government treated many tribes?
Yes. Not just on stormfront either. It seems like there's a lot of vested interest on both sides.
You don't? It is because it prooves the current syllabus about indegenous human species is bravo sierra.
ok.
Man, I had to take an hour-long shower the last time I looked at Stormfront.
The idea that Kennewick Man is a "European" is somewhat overblown; he is likely more what we'd consider "Southeast Asian" or "Polynesian" but still likely quite different from modern American Indians.
The reality though is that we're all really extremely closely genetically related no matter where we are from.
It would be a shame if Kennewick Man wasn't closely studied due to this idiotic amendment; however, Kennewick Man doesn't suddenly mean that there isn't anything to be embarassed about in the treatment of American Indians by Europeans.
Imagine the possibility that the Indians of Asian ancestry came here and obliterated a previous population of humans. I can't think of anything more UN-PC than that!
You're probably right.
Yes that does get a little overused and old.
American Indians, except for the "X Gene", are pretty much identical to the Chinese. Some North American Indians share the "X Gene" with the Berber people in North Africa. It is also found to a lesser extent among other Europeans.
Most American Indians, however, do not carry the "X Gene", nor are they descended from the Jomon. In short, they are immigrants to America from a later time than the original people.
Mexico has a better collection of ancient remains, and they've found folks identical to those found in Australia resident in Baja right down to modern, historical times.
Irrespect of all that, the business about protecting Indian remains came about because of abuses ~ such as: Displaying mummified Indians in carnivals, gathering up all the bones in Indian burial grounds and storing them in museum basements, using the Mohican Indian ossuary (nearly 10,000 years old) as a source of ballast for the New York Central railroad, etc.
It's difficult to differentiate between scientific studies and grave robbing. On the other hand some archaeologists dug up some of my ancestors in Colonial Jamestown (at Martin's Hundred) and put their bones on display. Fortunately for them they replaced those bones on the site before I collected their pelts to use as shades on my table lamps.
"They did it too!" is a bit of a fourth grade excuse, don't you think?
In a lot of our dealings with the Indians we were an advanced enough society such that we did know better and many people at the time knew it was wrong. Doesn't mean the US is the center of evil in the world or that people shouldn't be proud of this country overall. I'm not proud of every single thing we've done though.
The reality is 90% of the damage to the Indians was due to disease (not caused by "smallpox blankets" or anything deliberate) and it would have happened even if every single contact with Europeans was with the best of intentions.
Disease really doesn't care.
I bet those Dinasours are pissed they aren't getting any representation or compensations from the human race. Their bones should be given to the birds and insects because they are direct descendents /sarc
I didn't make the allegation, I raised the question of just ONE of the implications of discovering a pre-ASian human in North America. My reply was to someone who asked why the PC crowd might object to uncovering the true facts of Kennewick man. I raised one possible line of reasoning that those people could be worried about.
I think it would be cool if they confirmed such a discovery, and I don't care who did what to whom in ancient history, as long as no one is doing it today.
The birds are free to pick up the bones any time they wish, eh?!
I really don't understand why people care so much about their ancestors bones. I could understand why you don't want a relative you actually knew dug up, but if they are even several generations back, why does it bother one? I am not trying to start a fight, I would really like to understand.
Especially if there is some scientific interest.
susie
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