Monday, Jun. 20, 2005

Kennewick Man to be studied in Seattle

By Anna King, Herald staff writer

Scientists say they are wrapping up final arrangements to study Kennewick Man's remains in early July at University of Washington's Burke Museum in Seattle.

The 9,400-year-old skeleton found along the banks of the Columbia River in 1996 has been the focus of a bitter nine-year court battle between the federal government, Mid-Columbia Native American tribes that claim the bones as their ancestor and the scientists who want to study the remains.

Scientists from around the country plan to convene in Seattle for about two weeks early next month to conduct the research, said Alan Schneider, Portland-based attorney for the scientists.

The study potentially could be halted if the tribes asked for a stay, but they haven't yet, Schneider said. But further studies of Kennewick Man might be stopped if a bill proposed by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., passes and changes the wording of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

The senator has introduced a two-word amendment that would let federally recognized tribes demand the return of remains, even if they can't prove a link to a modern tribe.

"Right now skeletal remains that are culturally unaffiliated are being given to tribes and reburied," Schneider said. "If the McCain amendment goes through, we are very concerned about what would become of Kennewick Man and all of these other skeletal remains that are so different from present day Native Americans."

But the bill won't be approved in time to affect this summer's study, he added.

Audie Huber, inter-govermental affairs manager for the Umatilla Reservation's Department of Natural Resources, said that the Umatilla, Yakama and Nez Pierce tribes had filed an appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The tribes hope to have some say in what happens to the remains in the future, he said.

"The desire was to get them back in the ground," Huber said. He added that the tribes' appeal likely won't affect the plaintiff scientist's study this summer.

In July, government scientists plan to look the skeleton over and assess any changes in the bones since their last study, he said. Then the scientists will begin their work.

First, the team would work to catalogue and reconstruct the entire skeleton, Schneider said. They wouldn't glue or alter the bones in any way but would put them in anatomical order, he said.

Then they would try to reconstruct what has happened to the skeleton from the time Kennewick Man died until now.

Scientists plan to do a CAT scan of Kennewick Man's skull and hip bone with its imbedded arrowhead. The computer image would be used to mold a very accurate plastic replica of the skull.

The replica would be taken back to the Smithsonian Museum and recast in a more durable material that would be measured and hand painted to resemble the original as closely as possible.

Schneider said one replica would be kept at the Burke and another at the Smithsonian.

"When other researches come into Burke they won't have to handle the skull as much," he said. "They won't have to take all their measurements off the original anymore."

The replica also serves a precaution in case the bones are returned to the tribes later, Schneider said.

Scientists who want to do more specific measurements and study on Kennewick Man's teeth, hand and foot bones likely would conduct their studies this fall. That is if McCain's bill doesn't pass.

Schneider said the scientists are concerned that if the bones are returned to the tribes, scientists won't be able to study them with new technologies and techniques that may develop in the future.

James Chatters, the Richland archaeologist who recovered many of Kennewick Man's bones from the riverbank when they were first discovered, said he is relieved the study will finally happen. Chatters said he plans to answer the other scientists' questions about what he saw when he originally found the bones and help describe the site where the remains were discovered.

"We're past some of the politics and finally going to learn some things," he said.

Kennewick Man's remains are stored at the Burke Museum.