Sunday, Jul. 27, 1997

College students out to watch hydros stumbled onto a 'dilly' of a find

By Mike Lee Herald staff writer

Finders aren't always keepers.

Just ask Will Thomas and Dave Deacy, two college students who stumbled - literally - over one of North America's biggest archeological discoveries at last year's hydroplane races.

Decked in T-shirts, shorts and sandals, Thomas and Deacy remain typical collegians enjoying a summer at home despite their link to scientific history.

They've been friends since boyhood, though few things have cemented their Wayne-and-Garth-like relationship as the so-called Kennewick Man.

After a year of moderate fame - and an immoderate amount of storytelling - Deacy and Thomas don't have more than $50 each to show for their find. They didn't even get to name the bones.

They do, of course, have their own ideas to add to Kennewick Man, and Ancient One, the preferred title of American Indian tribes.

They'll have a hard time convincing anyone else to change the name known round the world - but at least they'll always have the distinction of finding the ancient remains.

"We were kind of late for the races," Deacy recalled as July 28 - the one-year anniversary of the discovery - approached. To save time, "We went down through the water just wading around. ... That's when Will stopped."

What had stopped Thomas was the sight of a smooth round rock in 18 inches of water.

"I thought I might play a joke on Dave and tell him it was a head," Thomas said.

He grabbed the rock by the top, not wanting to stick his hands in the gooey sediment, and pulled it out.

A human head.

A heavy head clogged with mud. "It wasn't really slimy. But I tried not to grab underneath because of guck and stuff," Thomas said. "We weren't super freaked out. We thought it was pretty cool that we found it."

They've told the story dozens of times over the last year, mostly to friends. "I'll go over to a friend's house and they'll say 'This is Kennewick Man.' (Their parents) always got all these questions," Thomas said.

But finding Kennewick Man did change their lives, at least in small ways.

Thomas said he recently had beers with a new friend, Richland scientist Jim Chatters, who first studied the bones.

That got Thomas a peek at Chatters' lab and other ancient bones - Kennewick Man's remains are securely vaulted at Battelle labs in Richland.

On Sunday race day last year, Thomas and Deacy figured they found evidence that could put someone in a different kind of vault - the slammer.

"We thought it would possibly solve some crime if they could figure it out from the teeth or something," Thomas said. "I don't think it ever crossed our mind that it was old. We don't have a lot of experience with old bones."

Besides, old bones weren't the first things on their minds. The hydroplane finals would start in minutes, and they didn't want to miss the finale of their annual summer highlight.

If they turned in the skull before the races, "We knew we would probably be tied up with the cops," Deacy said. "We didn't want to miss the exciting races."

So the pair stashed the head in the leafy underbrush. "There were a couple of kids fartin' around and I thought they would find it," Thomas said.

They didn't.

By then, the pair was enjoying their status as bone finders. "We were having fun with it," Thomas said. "Our buddies were driving by and we were waving at them. They thought we were in trouble."

They weren't.

But they did gain celebrity status, starting with a story in the Herald the next day, before anyone knew the importance of their discovery.

The Oregonian newspaper called a month later wanting the skinny on the bones, which started a flood of calls from journalists over the last 11 months.

The most amusing media event happened in early May when a Korean TV company paid Deacy and Thomas $50 each to re-enact the discovery. "That's the only money we've seen out of it," Thomas moaned.

It was, they said, a comical gig involving several Korean journalists, including one who spoke English. The West Richland men made sure the documentary wasn't going to be released in the United States. "We felt pretty foolish," Thomas said. "We were kind of being cheesy."

Better than Korean TV was mention of Kennewick Man on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update, a satirical look at current events.

The show's fake news reported that scientists who filed a federal lawsuit to keep Northwest Indians from burying Kennewick Man were a front for pop star and strange artifact collector Michael Jackson.

And Thomas was on "another famous show" - Dateline or Nightline or something like that, he said.

They keep up on events in Kennewick Man's afterlife, largely through the news.

Both say the bones should be studied, as proposed by a group of eight scientists who have sued to keep the Army Corps of Engineers from returning the bones to Indian tribes for reburial.

"I definitely think it should be studied," Thomas said, "Because you can find out a lot about our history this way."

"It should be studied to shed more light on the subject," Deacy echoed.

As for today's races, Deacy and Thomas aren't about to miss the show. Says Deacy: "Who knows what we'll find this year."