posted May 07, 2010 10:35 PM
I read the following about KennewickKennewick Man is the name for the remains of a prehistoric man found on a bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, on July 28, 1996. The discovery of Kennewick Man was accidental: a pair of spectators at the yearly hydroplane races found his skull while swimming in the Columbia River.
The remains became embroiled in debates about the relationship between Native American religious rights and archaeology. Based on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, five Native American groups (the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Yakama, Wannapum, and Colville) claimed the remains as theirs, to be buried by traditional means. Only Umatillas continued further court proceeding. In February 2004 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a cultural link between the tribes and the skeleton was not met, opening the door for more scientific study.
In July 2005, scientists from around the United States convened in Seattle for ten days to study the remains, making many detailed measurements, and determined the cause of death.
Scientific significance
The remains were initially given to forensic anthropologists, who studied them until it was determined that they were of a man who lived between 5,000 and 9,500 years ago. He was in his 30s or 40s, had a healed broken arm and a healed broken rib, and a 2.2-inch spear point was lodged in his hip (which did not kill him). Prior to detailed scientific analysis, a digital reconstruction of the skull revealed what some called Caucasoid features. Press coverage frequently noted a similarity in appearance to Shakespearean and Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart.
Further research has shown that Kennewick Man is possibly not Caucasian at all, however. Rather, some researchers now suggest he most closely resembles Polynesian or Ainu peoples. This suggests that there may have been an immigration wave across the Pacific to the Americas, as well as across the Bering Strait land bridge. DNA analysis, which some Native American groups oppose, could help resolve this mystery, should there be enough left intact to extract from the bones.
All PaleoIndian remains tested to date have been found to possess the same mitochondrial haplogroups as do modern Native Americans. Craniometric analyses have been somewhat contradictory, with some studies having linked PaleoIndians to modern Native Americans, some to European and Southeast Asian populations, and with some finding no close affinity to any modern peoples.
The history of the colonization of North America by humans, once thought to have occurred fundamentally by migration across the Bering Strait land bridge during the most recent ice age, has increasingly been revealed by archaeological evidence from studies by archaeologists such as Thor Heyerdahl, to be much more complex; multiple waves of humans may technically have made the journey, via different means and from different regions. Kennewick Man may be evidence of such a colonization wave.
Ownership controversy
According to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, if human remains are found on federal lands and their cultural affiliation can be established, the bones must be returned to the affiliated tribe. The Umatilla tribe of Native Americans requested custody of the remains, wanting to bury them according to tribal tradition. However, their claim was contested by researchers hoping to study the remains; if Kennewick Man has no direct connection to modern-day native tribes, then NAGPRA should not apply.
The Umatilla argue that their origin beliefs say that their people have been present on the lands since the dawn of time, so a government holding that Kennewick Man is not Native American is tantamount to the government's rejecting their beliefs.
On February 4, 2004, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected the appeal of the Umatilla, Colville, Yakama, Nez Perce and other tribes on the grounds that they had not given any proof of kinship. The tribes dropped their lawsuits for custody.
In April 2005, United States Senator John McCain introduced an amendment to NAGPRA (Senate Bill 536) which, in section 108, would change the definition of "Native American" from being that which "is indigenous to the United States" to "is or was indigenous to the United States." By that definition, Kennewick Man would be Native American, whether or not any link to a contemporary tribe could be found. Proponents of this argue that is in accord with current scientific understanding, which is that it is not in all cases possible for prehistoric remains to be traced to current tribal entities, not least because of the social upheaval, forced resettlement and extinction of entire ethnicities caused by disease and warfare in the wake of European colonization. Doing so, however, would still not remove the controversy surrounding Kennewick Man as then it would have to be decided which Native American group should take possession of the remains if he could not definitively linked with a current group. To be of practical use in a historical and prehistorical context, some argue further that the term "Native American" should be applied so that it spans the entire range from the Clovis culture (which cannot be positively assigned to a single surviving tribal group) to the Métis, who only came into being as a consequence of European contact, yet constitute a distinct cultural entity.
The remains are now at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington.
http://www.crystalinks.com/kennewick.html