9,400 year old, Spirit Cave Man
I've read that there are eight of these Kennewick Man like skeletons around.
Posted on 09/03/2002 6:03:39 AM PDT by Pharmboy
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - More than six years after the discovery of one of the oldest skeletons ever found in North America, a federal judge overturned a decision to give the bones to Indian tribes for reburial and ruled that scientists can keep them for more study.
U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks said he reviewed 20,000 pages of documents before concluding that "nothing I have found in a careful examination of the administrative record" supported the government's decision to give the bones to the tribes.
Scientific study of the ancient skeleton will benefit all people, including tribes, by offering clues to early migration and culture, said plaintiff Robson Bonnichsen, formerly director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Oregon State University.
"Without studying it we'll never know about these early populations," said Bonnichsen, who is now at Texas A&M.
Bonnichsen was one of eight scientists who sued soon after the 9,300-year-old skeleton was discovered in July 1996 in Kennewick, Wash.
The scientists said it was extremely rare to find a nearly intact skeleton so old. Initial analysis also indicated it differed from modern Indian tribes, prompting speculation about whether it supported theories such as several waves of migration from different parts of Asia to populate North America.
Alan Schneider, a lawyer representing the scientists, said the ruling should set a precedent for dealing with archaeological discoveries. He said the scientists were prepared to take the case "all the way to the Supreme Court" if the government decides to appeal.
Justice Department ( news - web sites) spokesman Dana Perino said government attorneys would have to review the ruling before they could comment.
The judge also criticized former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the Army Corps of Engineers for the way they handled the case.
Jelderks wrote that the federal government "failed to consider all the relevant factors, had acted before it had all of the evidence, had failed to fully consider legal questions, had assumed facts that proved to be erroneous, had failed to articulate a satisfactory explanation for its action, had followed a 'flawed' procedure, and had prematurely decided the issue."
Babbitt backed the Corps of Engineers, which manages Columbia River navigation, saying the remains were culturally affiliated with Northwest tribes because they had an oral tradition of history in the general geographic area where the bones were found.
Babbitt said he was acting under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, a law intended to prevent theft and illegal trafficking of Indian artifacts, protect tribal burial sites and restore the remains of ancestors to the tribes.
The scientists argued that no group could establish a direct link to the bones under the terms of the law.
The scientists emphasized their legal fight was against the government's interpretation of the law, not tribal tradition.
"I'm sure Native Americans see it differently, but this suit was against the government, not the Indian tribes," said anthropologist Richard Jantz at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, one of the eight scientists.
He looks like most of today's IT guys.
Kennewick Man Awarded To Scientists
Wouldn't you know it, happens to me all the time..
There are no skeletons of Native Americans/American Indians (as we know them today) ever found in North America that are older than 6,000 year old.
Some Native American FReepers have told me that it doesn't matter, who-ever was here, "that's us."
Assimilation(sp) works for me.
That's already happening. Buhl Woman, who looked like (from quick observation) Kennewick Man was reburied by the Indians immediately after it was discovered.
Probably.
Common sense is returning slowly to our court system, albeit at a crawl.
And PC is increasingly being shown to be the fraud that it is, simply a way to manipulate other people.
Science is the only venue where artifacts like this one belong.
9,400 year old, Spirit Cave Man
I've read that there are eight of these Kennewick Man like skeletons around.
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