Tuesday, May. 12, 1998

Draft - Plans by the Department of Interior to determine the future of Kennewick Man, dated May 12, 1998

Draft (Note: This is the version distributed and discussed with tribal representatives on 12 May 1998 at the COE District Office Building in Walla Walla, WA. FPM 14May1998)

Department of the Interior Approach to Documentation, Analysis, Interpretation, and Disposition of Human Remains Found at Columbia Park, Kennewick, WA

I. Introduction

Additional examination, recording, analysis, description, and interpretation of the human remains and about the archeology and history of the Indian occupation of the Kennewick area are needed to address the topics adequately. DOI shall undertake the necessary historical and scientific investigations, as required by NAGPRA, in consultation with Indian tribes that may be affiliated, and in cooperation with the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, and Department of Justice.

Investigations also will be undertaken to provide background for determining the ultimate disposition of the remains. These studies will focus on the possible cultural affiliation of the remains with present day Indian tribes. A wide variety of geographical, kinship, biological, archeological, linguistic, folklore, oral tradition, historical, and other information will be examined as part of this investigation.

II. Procedures for Examination, Recording, and Analysis of the Remains

Introduction

1. Inventory of Skeletal Elements: Inventory of the skeletal and dental elements is critical, for without a detailed inventory, documentation is insufficient and paleopathological and other necessary analysis will be impossible. This inventory must be detailed enough to be employed with both the well preserved and highly fragmented skeletal remains. The condition of each element should be carefully recorded along with other variables.

The listing system for the skeletal components will vary by bone types (see Rose et al. 1991). All articular surfaces will be listed for each bone to enable detailed analyses of degenerative diseases.

The dental inventory will be recorded by numerical codes and in a visual format. The visual system is the standard idealized drawing of the teeth used by the dental profession with marked occlusal, mesial, distal, buckle (labial), and lingual surfaces. Again the missing surfaces will be marked out and caries can be drawn in (see Rose et al. 1991).

Of the numerous systems for scoring variations in dental morphology, the Arizona State University system (Turner et al. 1991) for scoring morphological variants has three distinct advantages: there is a large comparative data base in existence; the morphological variants are adequately described; and the variants for each trait are available in plaster casts.

2. Metric Recording of Skeletal Elements: Measurement of the human crania and post cranial skeleton is a task which has occupied anthropologists for more than a century and despite international convention there are several hundred measurements reported in the literature. At a minimum, 78 cranial and postcranial measurements will be recorded based upon Rose et al. (1991) and the measurements selected for the forensic anthropology data base project sponsored by the National Institute of Justice (Jantz and Moore-Jansen 1988; Moore-Jansen and Jantz 1989). Definitions for these measurements are provided in Moore-Jansen and Jantz (1986:55-84). These measurements have proven useful in both population comparisons and statistical analysis of sex and population affiliation. Large metric data bases exist for some regions and have been profitably employed in studies of genetic distances and ethnic affiliations (e.g., Drizzler 1981; Key 1983). In this case, additional measurements may be needed to permit comparisons with existing databases.

4. Dental Metric Recording: All dental observations should be recorded by standardized tooth number. There are numerous definitions and variants of the four standard dental measurements available in the literature. The measurements recommended (Rose et al. 1991) are modified from Goose (1963).

Measurements should be taken even if the teeth are worn, as this condition will be noted in the attrition data section and these data are needed for other analyses such as hypoplasias and dental attrition. Scaled photographs or digital images of the occlusal surfaces of both dental arcades should be taken as they can be used for digital analysis of tooth size, occlusal areas, and dental attrition.

Dental caries are the most common and often the most informative of dental lesions. The literature clearly indicates the usefulness of caries analysis, but it cannot provide its full potential unless the caries are recorded by tooth type and surface. It is imperative that the dental inventory be conducted in such a way that specific teeth which cannot be observed for caries (e.g., lost pre- or postmortem) are recorded. Caries must be recorded for each of the 32 permanent teeth by tooth surface and their morphological variants.

The recommendations for enamel hypoplasia recording and analysis are those from Goodman and Rose (1990). Systemic metabolic stress produces hypoplasias (deficiencies in enamel thickness) on most or all teeth developing at the time of stress.

Analysis of Observations and Measurements:

a. Representation: Considering the disarticulated and scattered nature of these remains and the dynamic context from which they were recovered, it is essential to establish with as much certainty as possible whether a single individual is represented by the remains. Comparison of the similarity of the skeletal elements recovered, their comparative sizes, their condition, and other relevant characteristics will be used to determine this.

c. Growth Assessment: Stature and the existence of certain pathologies will be used as measures of nutritional condition. An interpretation of this condition should be based upon the basic metric and non-metric recording.

d. Assessment of Health and Way of Life: Observations of any inflammation, trauma, toxins, and other stressors will be interpreted to form an idea of the health and way of life of the individual. An important paleopathology reference is Ortner and Putschar (1981). For recording purposes, each discrete lesion, including evidence of trauma, must be described by size and its specific location on each bone (e.g., medial aspect of distal third of the right tibia) and whether active or healing/healed at the time of death. In addition to coding the lesions and evidence of trauma, additional verbal description, shading on skeletal drawings, photographs, and casts may be necessary (Rose et al. 1991). Specific diagnoses are seldom possible from the examination of single lesions, but their patterns within a skeleton by age and sex can be used to offer diagnoses for common disease entities.

g. Analysis and Interpretation of Craniometric and Post-cranial Measurements: Compare the cranial and post-cranial measurements and derived indices with relevant existing skeletal series and databases to examine the position of this set of remains within these populations of remains (e.g., Key 1983, 1994; Jantz and Owsley 1994).

III. Procedures for Radiocarbon Dating, DNA Analysis, and other Tests

Additional testing is being considered if the initial description and analysis are not sufficient to make a reasonable determination about whether or not the remains are "Native American", as defined for the purposes of implementing NAGPRA. Some possible tests are listed below. They may require the destruction of small amount, typically only a few grams, of bone to conduct the test.

2. DNA Extraction and Analysis to Assist in Inferring Ancestry:

3. Stable Isotope Extraction and Analysis: The recommendations for isotopic analysis of human bone follow (Price 1989:245-252). Of the available stable isotopes carbon and nitrogen ratios should be minimally collected.

4. Elemental Analysis: Elemental analysis of human bone follows (Price 1989:245-252). Although a number of major trace elements have been analyzed, strontium, zinc, barium, sodium, and lead comprise the minimum which should be collected.

5. Harris Lines Detection and Analysis: Harris lines (alternately transverse lines and radiopaque lines) have been used as one measure of childhood stress. The mechanisms for formation are not completely known and caution is urged when interpreting the meaning of lines (Martin et al. 1985).

6. Bone Histology: Histological analysis of human bone and associated measurements of bone cross-sections (e.g., cortical area, cortical thickness) have been shown to be powerful data sources for assessment of nutrition, growth patterns, and adult bone loss (Martin et al. 1985).

Investigations Related to Cultural Affiliation Investigations Related to Cultural Affiliation

(To be developed)