Wednesday, Jul. 06, 2005

Kennewick Man under watchful eye of scientists

By Anna King, Herald staff writer

SEATTLE - The front steps of the Burke Museum were quiet Tuesday morning save for a few hurried University of Washington students on their way to class.

No protesters, no gawkers and no TV cameras showed. Only two stern-looking totem poles stood guard.

Most were unaware that today, just steps away, 11 scientists from around the country would be carefully examining the Mid-Columbia's most famous resident - Kennewick Man.

It's been a long time coming.

If the bones should be returned to the tribes for burial or if they should be curated for study has been the subject of intense controversy since they were discovered along the Columbia River in 1996. And the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that there wasn't a definite link between the skeleton and modern-day tribes.

Scientists will study Kennewick Man at the Burke until July 15. First on the long list of questions is what's happened to the almost 9,400-year-old bones from the day Kennewick Man died until today. The skeleton's stains, fractures and condition will all be carefully recorded to better understand his story.

Inside, 7-year-old George Wing clutched the railing and stood on his toes to examine a half-dozen illuminated Clovis points. He focused most of his attention on the two largest, almost translucent points - about 11,000 years old - tools that had been unearthed from an East Wenatchee farm.

George's father, Michael Wing, steadied the excited boy with a gentle hand.

Tuesday, the Kentfield, Calif., family was touring the Northwest-inspired exhibits in the museum during a summer vacation.

Michael Wing, a high school science teacher, appeared pleased when he learned Kennewick Man would be under study nearby. He didn't give much credit to the tribes' claim on the bones.

"I can't believe any group of people would stay in one place for 9,000 years," he said. "The burden would be on the tribes to prove that."

And while the scene at the Burke appeared calm, the group studying Kennewick Man hurriedly loaded suitcases full of gear into cars and planes from as far away as Washington, D.C., to get to the museum and get started.

Cleore Hawkinson, founder and president of the nonprofit group Friends of America's Past, was in Portland negotiating last-minute arrangements before leaving for Seattle. She's helping to facilitate the two-week stay for members of the scientific study group in Seattle.

"It's an incredibly exciting and important day," she said.

Today, the group mostly will be attending meetings with the Army Corps of Engineers, packing the scientific gear into the museum and setting up labs, Hawkinson explained.

"The entire skeleton needs to be laid out and looked at," she said. "These guys have a lot of work ahead of them."

Some of the scientists had been on Northwest soil and under overcast skies only a few hours before starting up study preparations in their nearby hotel room.

Doug Owsley, a Washington, D.C., forensic anthropologist for the National Museum of Natural History, and the only original plaintiff scientist who will be examining the bones in this study, was busy working out a coding system to interpret the skeleton's fractures with another scientist.

"We're working tonight to review how we're going to coordinate recording the information," he said.

Owsley has seen the bones a couple times before, but this will be the first time he is able to take a closer look.

"We look forward to finding out what we can about him," Owsley said. "It's been a long time getting here."