Copyright © 1998 by McGraw-Hill, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. The entire contents or parts of this Update may be reproduced for use with Physical Anthropology, Sixth Edition, or Physical Anthropology: The Core, second edition, by Philip L. Stein and Bruce M. Rowe, provided each reproduction bears the copyright notice. The publisher's written permission must be obtained for other use.
See Physical Anthropology, 6th edition, Chapter 19, pages 495-497; Physical Anthropology: The Core, 2nd edition, Chapter 13, pages 330-331.
The discovery in July of 1996 of an early resident of North America has sparked a debate over the racial affiliation of early Americans and the fairness of a 1990 law. Called Kennewick Man, the approximately 9300-year-old skeleton was found along the banks of the Columbia River in Washington State. With about 90 to 95 percent of the skeleton found, Kennewick Man is the most complete and oldest skeleton found in the Pacific Northwest.
Unfortunately scientists have had little opportunity to study the skeleton. Because of the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Army Corps of Engineers, that has jurisdiction over the land where the skeleton was found, has locked it away.
NAGPRA specifies that Native American remains are to be given to the Native American group that can best show an ancestral link to the remains. The problem with the Kennewick Man skeleton is that its affiliation is unclear. James Chatters, the first physical anthropologist to study the skeleton, noted that is has many "Caucasoid" features. Another scientist, Grove Krantz, concluded that the skeleton could not be shown to be connected to any existing Native American group.
These conclusions imply that perhaps the long-standing notion that Asians were the first people to reach America is wrong; some group of European ancestry arrived in North America first. Native American groups, however, believe that they did not come from Asia or Europe, but originated in the New World.
Scientists would like the chance to explore the biological characteristics and possible affiliation of Kennewick Man. Eight scientists have sued to do just that.
Scholars point out that both archaeological and historical studies show that Native Americans have moved around considerably. Therefore, it is unlikely that any modern group has a close link to Kennewick Man. Also, the concept of "race" as used by the general public differs from that of anthropologists. People, as they move around, come into contact with other people and exchange genes. For this reason, terms like "Caucasoid" and "Amerin" (American Indian or Native American) are misleading. There is no finite number of human races.
If Kennewick man had "Caucasoid" and Native American features, this would perhaps be an example of early admixture of European and Asian populations. In fact, one attempt at a flesh reconstruction of Kennewick Man portrays him as a "cross between a Japanese tribesman and actor Patrick Steward in his role as captain of the Starship Enterprise."1
At any rate, the courts will decide whether or not scientists will be able to further explore various hypotheses about Kennewick Man and any yet-to-be discovered ancient skeletal remains in the United States.
1C. Holden, "Kennewick Man Realized," Science, 279 (February 20, 1998), 1137. References: R. Jantz, "Polemicizing Kennewick Man," Anthropological Newsletter, 39 (March 1998), 56; E. Miller, "Whose Ancestor Is He? The Case of Kennewick Man and the Science of Repatriation," Southwestern Anthropological Association, 38 (January 1998), 1, 5, 8, 10. 13-14; D. Preston, "The Lost Man," The New Yorker (June 16, 1997), 70-81.