Kennewick Man

Kennewick Man (also known as the Ancient One) is an Early Holocene human skeleton first discovered near Kennewick, Washington in 1996. Its age is estimated at 9200 to 9600 years, making it one of the oldest sets of human remains yet found in North America. Kennewick Man is also at the center of a long debate between scientists who stress the importance of studying the remains in order to advance our understanding of early humans in the Americas and people in the Native American community who claim cultural rights to the remains under the rules of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and wish to rebury the skeleton.

Discovery

Kennewick man’s skull was first uncovered on July 28th, 2006 by two men who were attending the annual hydroplane races on the Columbia River. They hid the skull in a bush until the last race had concluded and then notified local authorities, who initiated an investigation and later handed the matter over to the Army Corps of Engineers. More bones were recovered in the following days and a small piece was sent to a lab at the University of California at Riverside for carbon dating. The lab report, which concluded that the skeleton was over 9000 years old, electrified the scientific community and the population at large.

Anthropologist Jim Chatters, who was enlisted by the local coroner’s office to help discover the origins of the skeleton, quickly recognized the significance of the find, noting that the ancient and nearly complete skeleton was "a unique find for North America" but he also knew that it would be a challenge to satisfy both the scientific community and the Native American community, who each held a stake in the fate of the bones. "We're not sure what is going to happen next," he said, "It's a sensitive issue dealing with Native American remains, or anyone's remains. This person could be related to anyone with Native American ancestry."

Kennewick Man in court

Chatters quickly recognized the significance of the Kennewick bones, noting that the ancient and nearly complete skeleton was "a unique find for North America" but he also knew that it would be a challenge to satisfy both the scientific community and the Native American community, who each held a stake in the fate of the bones. "We're not sure what is going to happen next," he said, "It's a sensitive issue dealing with Native American remains, or anyone's remains. This person could be related to anyone with Native American ancestry."

Controversy erupted soon after the historic discovery as to what would become of Kennewick Man. In early September 1996, the federal government, which was now in custody of the bones because they had been found on land administered by the Army Corps of Engineers, announced that the remains would be returned to the five tribes (the Yakama, Umatilla, Nez Perce, Colville and Wanapum) that had claimed rights to them under the conventions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which requires museums and government agencies to return to Native American tribes any human remains, funerary objects, or sacred objects that fall within the tribes’ cultural patrimony. Before the end of the mandatory comment period, however, eight anthropologists filed suit against the government in a Portland court, claiming that "repatriation will deprive scholars of any opportunity or right to study this treasure." "Let the anthropologists study their own bones," replied Jerry Meninick of the Yakama Indian Nation.

The anthropologists argued that they would cause no harm to the remains and that they were in fact honoring them by seeking to learn from them, adding that there is no proof that the skeleton is actually related to any of the tribes that live in the Columbia basin today. Representatives of the tribes countered that the anthropologists’ studies were offensive to the Native American community and recalled the history of disregard for American Indian objections to the collection of sacred objects and cultural artifacts to be put on display in distant museums. The court called on the United States Department of the Interior, which commissioned a series of studies to determine the extent of cultural affiliation between Kennewick Man and the modern tribes that relied on such affiliations in order to justify their claims under NAGPRA. The results of those studies were largely inconclusive, however, and the court ruled in favor of the scientists in August 2002. The Nez Perce, Umatilla, Yakama, and Colville tribes quickly filed a suit of their own and the legal battle dragged on into the summer of 2004 when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request to rehear the case en banc.

Over the course of the 8-year legal proceedings, the skeleton was moved several times, turbulent debates erupted over who had been given access to the remains and under what conditions, and several pieces of the bones disappeared for some two and a half years. Kennewick Man’s remains are currently housed in the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, which states on its website that it “will continue to provide a secure and respectful repository for these human remains" until otherwise instructed by the court or the Army Corps of Engineers.

Kennewick Man tells his story

Studies have begun to reveal a great deal about Kennewick Man and the life he led. He did not look quite the way that one might expect. At around 5 feet and 10 inches, he was taller than his contemporaries and unlike them, his skull was not flattened on the back from a cradle board. Some of these clues have prompted scientists to suggest that the ancient ancestors of modern Native Americans and modern Europeans looked a lot alike. In fact, when Kennewick Man’s remains were first discovered, they were assumed to belong to a Caucasian male from the American colonial period. Later studies suggested that his ancestors had Polynesian or South Asian roots.

Kennewick Man’s teeth do not show signs of significant wear, so he probably ate a lot of meat. This indicates that he was probably a nomadic hunter and therefore likely lived in a small group. He carried a relatively light load as he traveled – generally not more than forty or fifty pounds.

More than 9000 years after his death, there was still a spear point embedded in Kennewick Man’s hip. The spear hit him from the front with significant force, so it may have been hurled with an atlatl. This injury was not the cause of his death, however. Nor was the bone-crushing blow that he received to his chest. He lived to be forty or fifty years old, and though he had a withered arm and probably lived with chronic pain, there is some evidence that it was an infection that finally led to his death but this has not been confirmed. Upon his death, he was buried with his arms placed at his sides and his feet pointing east. His head was inclined slightly forward, perhaps in order to face the rising sun.