Kennewick Man

I've been following this story off-and-on since the 1998 discovery of 9300-year-old remains near Kennewick, Washington. I was taking an Anthropology class at the time (where I first met my Annie), so my interest in the story was heightened somewhat. The more I learned, the more outraged I became. The bones were found by accident on land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. When the remains were dated and measured, scientists were shocked and excited at their discovery: the bones were more than 9000 years old. No big deal right? Well, this is where it gets interesting. The bones appear to be from a Caucasian male rather than from an Asiatic (Native American) one. (I'm not going to get into how they do all these technical measurements on the skull structure). This discovery, if proven to be accurate, would throw out much of our long-held beliefs about where the first Americans came from and when they came here.

The scientists, naturally, planned to excavate the entire site in order to look for other possible human remains or cultural artifacts. But, this is where the story gets outrageous. The Army Corps of Engineers forbade further excavation and promptly planted over the site. What's more, Native American tribes got involved and demanded the remains be handed over to them for proper burial. They claimed Kennewick Man was not an ancient white man, but one of their own. To paraphrase one of the tribal spokespeople: "We know this is true because our people have always been here. Our ancestors have passed down our story to us." Thus began the protracted legal battle you now read about in the article.

My outrage stems from the willingness of some to forbid scientific study in the name of religion, culture, history, ancestory, or pride. If you are truly secure in your ancestoral pride, you would let the light of careful scientific scrutiny shine on anything and everything. It would appear that scientists may finally be able to shine that light on Kennewick Man. Unfortunately, the tribes have shown that they don't just "want a seat at the table." In this, and any future cases, they want to bury the remains with no scientific study performed, and they want the Government and the scientific community to go away. If the pending legislation in Congress should pass, they just might get what they want.