Kennewick Man Scientists Protest Bill

San Jose Mercury News ^ | Fri, Apr. 08, 2005 | MATTHEW DALY

[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.

[muawiyah]

It's kind of like a tradition ~ keeping the old folks in the ground. Exhumation should be brief if there are any valid studies to be done. There's really no excuse for you getting your grubby hands on my ancestor's bones and putting them on display like some kind of trophy of conquest.

In fact, such behavior is ghoulish!

[1FASTGLOCK45]

chirp chirp chirp, give a dog a bone! haha

[brytlea]

So, it's really just a how you feel sort of thing.
Thanks for clearing that up.
susie

[muawiyah]

Yup, a "how I feel" sort of thing.