Monday, Nov. 14, 2005

Scientist drilling Kennewick Man for clues

By Anna King, Herald staff writer

WASHINGTON -- Doug Owsley lives to provide answers for his untroubled clientele -- the dead.

The forensic anthropologist for the Smithsonian was laboring late this particular night to solve a month-old West Virginia homicide.

In the next room, the remains of Lt. Gabriel Field -- a young Kentucky man who died after he was wounded and his leg amputated during the War of 1812 -- waited patiently for Owsley's attention. But Field, who died in the early 1820s, may have to linger a little longer.

That's because Owsley said he planned to look for microscopic clues among the hundreds of charred bony bits from a West Virginia body. They are no bigger than the size of quarters and are the only evidence remaining from "a drug deal gone bad."

Even with that pressing case, Owsley still is finding time to study one of his oldest and most intriguing cases, Kennewick Man.

Owsley led the intensive 10-day study of the 9,400-year-old skeleton found along the Columbia River in 1996 during Water Follies.

This summer's work at Seattle's Burke Museum was the first detailed look at the bones after a nearly decadelong court battle between those who want to study the remains and Native Americans who want to lay the them to rest.

In February, the dozen scientists who have been studying Kennewick Man in detail may let loose a few of their findings, Owsley said.

The anthropologists, geochemists and archeological conservators have been comparing the observations from their brief time with the bones while working at their respective museums and universities throughout the country.

Owsley said they plan to release the bulk of those findings to the public in Seattle. The scientists also are negotiating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a second, more-detailed study of the bones being kept at the Burke Museum.

In the second study scientists hope to focus on Kennewick Man's teeth wear patterns, his hands and feet and what his body structure was like, Owsley said.

This week, scientist Thomas Stafford Jr. at the University of Wisconsin hopes to begin calculating a more accurate age for Kennewick Man by examining tiny bits of bone drilled or cut for previous federal studies. He also wants to determine what kind of food he ate.

Stafford has been trying since this summer to raise about $20,000 to pay for the tests. He and other scientists with the help of a few universities finally collected enough so work could start this week. He first plans to analyze which bones might yield the most protein and the best chance for an accurate radio-carbon test. Then, in a few weeks, he will test those fragments for an age.

Previous tests showed more than a 2,600-year difference in Kennewick Man's age and many questioned their accuracy, Stafford said.

Stafford also hopes to be able to tell where Kennewick Man lived and what he ate by looking at tiny traces of minerals and isotopes in his bones.

"Our tissues reflect what we eat in a few hours or days," he said. "The protein in our bones is locked in about 10 to 15 years before, so if he was a vegetarian as an adolescent you wouldn't see that a year later."

Modern humans are a bit harder to track because they travel and eat foods from all over the world, Stafford explained.

Similarly, Owsley hopes the mineral and sand deposits on the bones will tell him whether Kennewick Man was buried and how or if he drowned in the river.

Since the Seattle study, the scientists have made a replica of the spear point lodged in Kennewick Man's hip. The model was formed using the same technology used to make the $20,000 replicas of the skull and hip.

A high-powered CAT scan of the original bones was taken to make a 3-D computer image of the inside and outside of the skull. Almost 800 cross-section views of the head and hipbones were made. And the completed computer image was used to make the plastic models.

"One of the things I've been able to hold in my hands is the projectile point," Owsley said. "It's very interesting stuff."

He said he is not an expert on stone tools so he will leave that analysis to others.

After more study they hope to determine what type of stone the point is made of and where that material comes from. That information could tell the scientists where Kennewick Man or his possible enemies came from.

But determining the type of stone could be tricky, Owsley said.

The point was completely lodged in Kennewick Man's hip and the bone had healed over an old injury. Scientists most likely will have to scan the rock with powerful X-rays to determine what it is without damaging the skeleton, Owsley said.

When pressed for more details, Owsley politely said those curious will have to wait a little longer. He had a lot of work to do on the puzzling West Virginia homicide.