Saturday, Jul. 17, 2004

Kennewick Man appeal unlikely

By Anna King, Herald staff writer

An almost eight-year battle over the remains of Kennewick Man that pitted Mid-Columbia tribes against those interested in studying the bones appears to be over.

Officials of four Northwest tribes say they don't plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep the 9,300-year-old bones out of the hands of scientists. The remains are considered to belong to one of the most complete ancient skeletons ever found.

"I am kinda glad for the case to come to a close. It's been a long time," said James Chatters, the Richland archaeologist who recovered many of Kennewick Man's bones from the riverbank in Columbia Park in 1996 during Water Follies.

But Chatters added that a lot of work remains before scientists actually can start to study the bones.

Rob Roy Smith, an attorney representing the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, said the tribes were disappointed in the lower federal court's ruling but would try other ways to gain ultimate control of Kennewick Man.

"Appeals to the Supreme Court are expensive, and there is no guarantee that the court would even take the case," he said. "There is a fear that the bad decision by the 9th District Court could become the law of the land, and that's not a risk the tribes are willing to take."

If the Supreme Court upheld the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' February decision in favor of scientific study, it might sway other cases in the United States where tribes are fighting for other remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, he said.

The Umatillas still could appeal the case and will not decide officially until the tribal council's meeting Monday. But Debra Croswell, a spokeswoman for the tribe, said an appeal was highly unlikely.

Croswell said the tribes probably would push Congress to amend the repatriation act and demand participation in how the study would be carried out on Kennewick Man.

Reburial of the bones is meaningful to the tribes who believe Kennewick Man is their ancestor, Croswell said.

"That's how you treat the remains of individuals," she said. "Once you put them in the ground, that's the way they are supposed to stay."

Chatters said he thinks study on the bones could start as early as November. The current study plan developed a few years ago calls for about two weeks of analysis, he said.

"I have a lot of questions in my mind still," Chatters said. "I am very much excited to get my colleagues in the same room and say, 'Hey, did you notice this? What do you think that means?' "

Chatters said under the 9th Circuit's decision, the skeleton will be stored for further scientific study and not reburied.

"It would be part of a collection maintained by the federal government," he said. "He goes in along with the rest of the national treasures where he belongs."

Kennewick Man's remains are now stored in the University of Washington's Burke Museum in Seattle.