Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005

Kennewick Man study outlined

By Anna King, Herald staff writer

After a bitter nine-year court battle, scientists may have their first chance to study Kennewick Man this summer.

Doug Owsley, a Washington, D.C., forensic anthropologist for the National Museum of Natural History, said the scientists' study plan will be given to the Army Corps of Engineers for review next week. It outlines the first of a three-phase study of the bones, he said.

"This guy is going to give us some real answers," Owsley said of the 9,400-year-old skeleton found along the banks of the Columbia River in 1996.

Northwest tribes claimed the bones as their ancestor and wanted them returned for burial without study. This week the tribes filed an appeal with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in hopes of having a say in the study.

Audie Huber, intergovernmental affairs manager for the Umatilla Reservation's Department of Natural Resources, said the court's decision might come too late.

The first part of the study probably will involve five to six scientists, but ultimately more than 23 scientists probably will study the bones, Owsley said.

The long-awaited inspection of the famous skeleton will come too late for Robson Bonnichsen, 62, one of the original eight plaintiff scientists.

The Texas-based archeologist died Dec. 24 in his sleep, said Alan Schneider, Portland-based attorney for the scientists. Bonnichsen was able to take an initial look at the bones with Owsley and others Dec. 14-15 at the Burke Museum in Seattle, where they have been kept.

"It's not just losing a colleague. For many of us it's losing a close friend," Schneider said.

He said the first part of the study would consider how the bones have changed since Kennewick Man's death and what caused the changes.

"This is a lot like the stuff you see on CSI, only this is a 9,400-year-old skeleton," he said.

Owsley said scientists would look at how and when many of Kennewick Man's bones were broken. This will show scientists how his body was lying on the ground when he died and how his bones were eroded from the river bank in Columbia Park. Scientists might be able to determine if Kennewick Man died and was covered naturally or if he was buried, Owsley said.

"You can tell a lot about how the individual came to be in the position he was in," he said. "I think there is a lot of information we can get from the skeleton, so you can think of this as a base of the study."

Later, more scientists will look at what Kennewick Man might have done in his life.

"He had a lot of injuries in life, and we want to know the details behind that," Owsley said.

Scientists might be able to find the answers to questions like what Kennewick Man ate, if he was right- or left-handed and who he might be related to, Owsley said.

"He is a very important discovery, and we want to tell his story," he said.