Thursday, Oct. 04, 2007

Senate bill could untie Kennewick Man bones

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

A Senate committee has approved a bill that could clear the way for Native Americans to claim the ancient bones of Kennewick Man.

This is the third time the change has been proposed to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. It would ensure federally recognized tribes could claim ancient remains even if a direct link to a tribe can't be proven.

Tribes have pushed for a change to the law since the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2004 sided with scientists who said they should be allowed to study the 9,300-year-old remains because they could not be linked to any tribe.

Now tucked inside a bill that would allow tribal participation in methamphetamine grants -- among other changes -- is a two-word addition to the American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The act governs the control of Native American skeletons, requiring museums and federal agencies to return them to tribes if there is evidence that links the remains to the tribes.

The Senate bill would expand the definition of what remains are considered ancestral. It would add the words "or was" to a definition of Native American to say that when it comes to ancient remains, "Native American" refers to a member of a tribe or culture that "is or was" indigenous to the United States.

The current legislation is too new to have been considered by many of the tribes. But earlier this year the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians passed a resolution at its annual conference asking that the language proposed in the bill be added to the law. The group represents more than 50 tribes.

Without the change, more than 100,000 remains currently held in museums or other collections no longer would be protected by the statue, Walter Echo-Hawk, an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, said at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing two years ago.

Tribes believe that any ancient remains in the United States are Native American and should not be studied without tribal approval.

Although an attempt to pass the changed definition failed two years ago, last week the same committee approved the bill unanimously by voice vote. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was among those in favor.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

But this time there was no public airing, said Cleone Hawkinson, a founding member of the Portland-based Friends of America's Past.

The new definition would assume that any remains found would belong to only federally recognized tribes, she said. That includes remains from small bands of people who died out and left no ancestors, and remains of indigenous ancestors to modern-day Latinos, including those who died just a couple of hundred years ago, she said.

"It narrows down and distorts history," she said.

Remains would automatically be turned over to tribes rather than requiring an ancestral link to be demonstrated first, she said.

"More than Kennewick Man is at stake," Friends of America's Past said in a message to members. "Unless this amendment is withdrawn, public access to the factual understanding of the nation's prehistory shifts to the exclusive control of federally recognized American Indians."

When the change to the law was last proposed, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., introduced counterlegislation and he's expected to again.

The dispute dates to 1996 when two men stumbled upon a skeleton along the banks of the Columbia River while attending the Columbia Cup hydroplane races in Kennewick. The Army Corps of Engineers laid claim to the skeleton and planned to turn it over to local tribes. The Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Colville tribes wanted to bury the bones before they could be studied.

But scientists filed suit, insisting the remains, dubbed Kennewick Man, could not be linked to any of the tribes. Tests showed the skeleton was 9,300 years old, and some scientists suggested that rather than resembling Native Americans, the skeleton was more like the prehistoric Jomon of Japan or Polynesians or Caucasians.

w Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@ tricityherald.com