Tribes ask scientists not
to fight return of bones
By Linda Ashton
Associated press writer
KENNEWICK, Wash. — The five
tribes of the Columbia Plateau on
Tuesday urged scientists seeking
further study of the remains of Ken
newick Man to accept the U.S. Inte
rior Department’s decision to return
the bones for burial.
“It’s time to put a close to what
we consider a very blatant exploita
tion of our ancestor’s remains,” said
Leo Aleck of the Yakama Nation.
“The real claim to those bones
are Mother Earth. I believe Mother
Earth claimed those bones 9,000
plus years ago.”
The ultimate custody of the bones
will most likely be decided in feder
al court in Portland, where a lawsuit
is pending on behalf of eight promi
nent anthropologists who want
more research on the bones.
Kennewick Man is one of the
oldest and most complete skeletons
found in North America, discov
ered in the shallows of the Colum
bia River in 1996. The bones are
important as scientists try better to
determine how and when the
North American continent was
populated.
For the last four years, the
Umatilla, the Yakama, the
Colvilles, the Wanapum and the
Nez Perce have fought testing and
research on the remains, contend
ing it is a moral and cultural dese
cration of an ancestor, whom they
call the Ancient One.
“Given the amount of study that
the Ancient One has endured, we
ask the federal government, courts
and scientific community to sup
port his swift return and reburial in
accordance with the law,” Matthew
Dick of the Colville Confederated
Tribes said.
“That’s simply not a realistic
hope,” said Paula Barran, a Port
land, Ore., lawyer representing the
anthropologists.
The scientists recognize they
have no common ground with the
tribes on this issue and intend to go
forward with the case, she said.
“Our clients don’t have any less
passion in what they believe than
the tribes do,” Barran said. “This is
n’t some lark they have engaged in.
They have very strong concerns
about government controlling areas
of study and having the wherewith
al to learn about the past. They’re
concerned ... (about) future access
to important artifacts.”
On Monday, Interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt said the remains
were “culturally affiliated” with the
five tribes because the bones were
found near the tribes’ aboriginal
lands.
He said he made the decision
based on geographic data and the
tribes’ oral histories. Three labora
tories were unable to successfully
extract DNA from the remains be
cause of the bones’ age.
Radiocarbon-dating of the 380
bones and skeletal fragments place
their age at between 9,320 and
9,510 years old.
At a news conference Tuesday,
tribal representatives gathered
along the Columbia River to talk
about the importance of the An
cient One and the role of federal
law in protecting tribal rights.
“This is our land. It’s an Indian
country,” said Robert Tomanowash
of the Wanapum Band.
“What’s found along the river
should not go nowhere to be tested
... to be abused. Our belief is to not
disturb the dead. They should stay
where they are committed forever
until Judgment Day.”
The tribes have not yet decided
where they would bury the bones.
Kennewick Man is being kept at the
Burke Museum of Natural and Cul
tural History in Seattle until the
dispute is resolved.
The bones were found on federal
land managed by Benton County,
and the Interior Department agreed
to decide what should happen to
them under the 1990 Native Ameri
can Graves Protection and Repatria
tion Act.
Protecting what is sacred to tribal
people has been a fight ever since
the arrival of white settlers, said Jeff
Van Pelt of the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
“NAGPRA is designed to right
the wrongs done to Indian people,”
Van Pelt said.
Kennewick Man’s origins have
been debated since the first anthro
pologist to examine the remains
said the skull bore little resem
blance to modern-day Indians. Pro
fessors who studied the bones for
the Interior Department said Ken
newick Man appeared to be most
closely linked to the people of Poly- If
nesia and southern Asia.
Commission bans bait fishing
on parts of Rogue to help fish
MEDFORD, Ore. — The Oregon
Fish and Wildlife Commission has
banned bait fishing on parts of the
Rogue River in the fall to protect
salmon and steelhead.
Starting in 2001, the fly-fishing
only season of Sept. 1 through Oct.
31 on the upper Rogue will be fol
lowed by a flies- and lures-only
season from Nov. 1 through Dec.
31 between Gold Ray Dam and the
markers below the Cole Rivers
Fish Hatchery.
The commission also banned
bait fishing Sept. 1 through Oct. 31
along the 31-mile section of the
lower Rogue between Grave Creek
and Foster Bar, where boat access is
restricted by the Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act.
Commission member Don Den
man of Medford said the changes
would result in fewer losses of wild
salmon and steelhead, both smolts
and adults, that suffer fatal injuries
from taking a baited hook deep into
their gills or gullets,
j There was considerable support
fq>r both sides of the issue, but the
cbmfmssibhefs'felt their action*was*
a compromise that would allow fish
ing with spinning and bait-casting §§
gear rather than restricting angling to
fly fishing gear, Denman said.
The restrictions on the upper
Rogue will put an end to what is
known as Slaughter Day, the day af
ter the end of the fly fishing-only
season when anglers enjoy unusu
al success fishing with salmon and
steelhead roe. 1
The restrictions on the lower §|
Rogue were suggested by fishing
guides concerned that bait fishing
was taking too high a toll on the pop
ular young summer steelhead known ||
as half-pounders, Denman said.
Mike Evenson, a state biologist,
had said restrictions on bait fishing
on the upper Rogue were unneces
sary and would only limit the abili
ty to harvest hatchery steelhead
without providing any benefit for
wild fish.
John Billows, who sells flies as r
well as bait from a store in Trail,
said he feared the bait ban would
take some anglers off the river.
Associated Press ^
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