Thursday, Jul. 07, 2005

Long day with bones leaves experts weary

By Anna King, Herald staff writer

SEATTLE -- The scientists looked slightly tired Wednesday evening when they emerged as a group from the Burke Museum after their first day of study on Kennewick Man.

"It's been an intense day," said a white-bearded Wayne Smith, one of the scientists. "There is a lot going on in that room."

About a dozen scientists from across the country have met in the Puget Sound's Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus in Seattle for a quick and intense study of the ancient bones found along the Columbia River in 1996. They finally are able to take a closer look after about nine years of intense litigation.

Still, spiritual leaders of Northwest tribes, who were on the other side of contentious court battles, say they hope the bones will be laid to rest back in the earth after the scientists finish.

Smith, an archeological conservator with Texas A&M University, appeared relieved to step outside into the shaded Burke parking lot.

"It's wonderful because now we are spending enough time and have enough good people working with them to see what the bones are trying to tell us," he said . "There is a story in there we have to learn to read."

Smith specializes in deciphering the stories of bones that have been under water. Kennewick Man is his bag.

"It has been in an area that has been dry and wet, dry and wet," he said.

Changes in the environment are not particularly good for preserving bones, he explained. But because the river soil didn't support much microscopic life and it was relatively cool, Kennewick Man's bones survived, he said.

Doug Owsley, the lead scientist, wore a blue button-up shirt and khakis that still looked freshly pressed after the full day of work.

"I thought it was a pretty good day," he said. "I think we are a long way from understanding it."

Walking back to his hotel, dodging a city bus and college students, he calmly talked about the algae stains and calcium deposits on Kennewick Man's leg bones that would help decipher how the old man was laid in the ground.

Owsley said the team mostly set up photo labs, tried to arrange the bones in anatomical order and worked to piece together a very exact plastic model of Kennewick Man's skull.

Their study will continue until July 15, and the scientists hope by then they will have answered some of their questions.

But many Native Americans believe those questions would be better left unanswered.

"Until the bones go back into the earth, their soul can not rest," said Allen Slickpoo Jr., a Nez Perce elder and spiritual leader who lives in Kamiah, Idaho. "I hope they will let Kennewick Man rest."

But not all Native Americans agree what should be done with the bones, Slickpoo said.

"There is a lot of anger from those of us who believe in the culture," he said. "And there are those who could care less."

Slickpoo explained that the Northwest tribes consider themselves earth people and they believe a person must be returned whole to the soil.

"We are to go out the same way we come in," he said.

Armand Minthorn, a religious leader for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, said the tribes will not be giving up on who they believe to be their ancestor.

"There is really nothing that can be done now to stop the study," he said. "It is still our goal and our intent that we will get the remains back."

Further studies of Kennewick Man could be stopped if a bill proposed by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., passes and a two-word amendment changes the wording of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. It would let federally recognized tribes demand the return of remains, even if they can't prove a link to a modern tribe.

The tribes are particularly concerned about any testing that would destroy parts of the bones to pin down Kennewick Man's age or examine his DNA.

"Any destructive testing done to these remains is a violation of the remains and the sacredness of those remains," Minthorn said. "There has to be some acknowledgment of our way of life."

The scientists say they have gained permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to test the fragments of bone left over from previous tests.

Will Thomas, who pulled Kennewick Man's skull from the water during the 1996 Water Follies with his best friend Dave Deacy, said it's hard to believe the scientists were finally working on the bones.

"I am anxious to see what they find," he said. "I had my doubts that they would ever be able to study it."

A few things have changed for Thomas, 30, since he found what he thought was a head-shaped rock. He hasn't been to Water Follies in a few years, got married last year, lives in Richland and works for Bechtel.

Thomas said he still is good friends with Deacy, and Kennewick Man remains a big part of their lives.

"We've gotten a lot of miles out of this whole thing," he said. "Sometimes people want to hear the entire story, and I can stretch it out for an hour."