Belonging: The Kennewick Man

In the spirit of repatriation this week I thought I'd mention my favourite case. I first learned about the Kennewick Man senior year in Washington State History class when we had to watch a movie about him.  So even though it's kind of old news, maybe because it's close to home for me or because finding the surprise date on remains like that would be so cool, but I am still pretty partial to Mr. Kennewick Man.

Kennewick Man skeleton

So first, a little background/review:


He was found in 1996 by accident in the Columbia River near Kennewick, WA( hence his name). Kennewick Man was assumed to be from settlers of the 19th century. James Chatter was the lead archaeologist on the case and imagine his surprise when the radio-carbon dating from part of a bone estimated the remains of the 50 year old man to be over 9,000 years old. It is believed that he was formally buried and that the erosion from the water tumbled his remains into the river (Gugliotta, 1999). Though, personally, this is extremely speculative with the evidence they have.


The Problem:


From a scientific and archaeological point of view the Kennewick Man provides insight into the prehistory of North America. He has provided evidence for humans living in this area of the country thousands of years before scientists had previously thought. From this new theories of migration have been studied and his remains still leave many possible discoveries of how people lived in this area so long ago.

Kennewick Man facial reconstruction

But with the discovery of the Kennewick Man came the issue of ownership.


The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation claimed that the Kennewick Man was their ancestor and that the scientific study of his body was "not appropriate for his and other Native American  remains"(Glover, 2000).

Map of Eastern Washington

The Army Corps (whose land the remains were found on) took possession of the remains and gave them back to the tribes. With NAGPRA if the Native American tribes could prove their connection to Kennewick man they are free to bury him however their culture would like.


Eight scientists sued for the rights of Kennewick Man to continue more testing and to try and prove his true connection to current Native American tribes.
In February 2004 the courts rejected the Native American's appeal on the grounds that they were unable to show any evidence of kinship(Durkee, 2004).

Kennewick Man

This case was extremely controversial and was an excellent example of modern problems with repatriation. In the case of Kennewick Man I agree more with the scientists and the courts, although I totally understand the Native American's claims. Proving kinship would be very difficult in a time of prehistory and especially when the presence of ancestors in that area was already questionable. After our discussion in class today, in the case of the skeleton having no legitimate ancestors and with the information it can continure provide us about humanity, the lack of repatriation of Kennewick Man (in this case) I believe was the right choice.


Bibliography:

Durkee, E. 2004, BONNICHSEN v. UNITED STATES, http://archive.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/AAFB80F54839DD2D88256E300069CF95/$file/0235994.pdf?openelement edn.

Glover, W. 2000, , KENNEWICK MAN AND THE STORY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE NEW WORLD. Available: http://www.lauralee.com/glover2.htm. 

Gugliotta, G. 1999, Kennewick Man Debate Heats Up, The Washington Post. 

Images: 

Kennewick Facial Reconstruction. Photo. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/images/kmanskele.jpg

Map of Washington. Photo. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/bluemountaineagle.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/cd/4cded5f1-c8d4-571b-8000-f3b4ad242fb5/4d6108165d43a.image.jpg