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Judge Reactivates Lawsuit Over Kennewick Man
NOVEMBER 15, 2000
PORTLAND, OR. (AP) A federal
judge is allowing a lawsuit over one
of the oldest and most complete hu
man skeletons ever found in North
America to go forward, setting in
motion a case that could ultimately
redefine the term "Native American."
U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks re
cently reactivated a 1996 lawsuit by
scientists who want to continue
studying Kennewick Man, a set of
9,000-year-old bones that have al
ready forced anthropologists to re
think theories about the origin of
Native Americans.
Five American Indian Tribes have
claimed him as an ancestor, and
have said study of the bones would
violate their religious traditions.
The lawsuit contesting a U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers decision to turn
the bones over to the Tribes was put
on hold, pending research by the In
terior Department. In September the
department decided the Tribes
should be allowed to rebury the
bones. Interior Secretary Bruce Bab
bitt said he determined the remains
U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks recently reactivated
a 1996 lawsuit by scientists who want to continue
studying Kennewick Man, a set of 9,000-year-old bones
that have already forced anthropologists to rethink
theories about the origin of Native Americans.
were "culturally affiliated" with the
Tribes because they were found near
their aboriginal lands.
During a recent status conference,
Jelderks questioned whether he un
derstood the Justice Department's
position that any human remains or
artifacts that predate Christopher
Columbus' arrival in the New World
in 1492 are by definition "Native
American."
Under that theory, for instance,
any remains of Vikings from their
five or more voyages to North
America around the year 1000 would
be considered "Native American" and
given to modern-day Tribes for
reburial.
After the government lawyers con
firmed their definition, Jelderks told
lawyers for the Tribes the
Umatilla, the Yakama, the Colvilles,
the Wanapum and the Nez Perce
to consider whether they agree be
cause it "might have implications
beyond this case."
Kennewick Man was discovered in
the shallows of the Columbia River
in 1996 in Kennewick, Washington.
The skeleton's skull has features
that are dissimilar to those of mod
ern American Indians.
Anthropologists who studied the
bones for the Interior Department
have said Kennewick Man appeared
to have the strongest connection to
populations from Polynesia and
southern Asia.
The discovery could support newer
theories that the continent's earliest
arrivals came not by a land bridge
between Russia and Alaska a
long-held theory but by boat or
some other route.
Eight anthropologists, including
two from the Smithsonian Institu
tion, who filed the lawsuit, say they
hope further study and tests could
help unmask the ethnic identities of
the first humans on this continent,
where they came from, and what
their cultures were like. But the
Tribes say that testing already done
for the government is enough.
ONTHENET:
Department of Interior: http:www.cr.nps.govaadkennewick
Kennewick Man Virtual Interpretive Center:
http:www.kennewick-man.com
Smithsonian Returns Chugach Masks; on Display in Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, AK. (AP) Seven
ancient masks from the Prince Will
iam Sound region have been re
turned to Alaska after years in stor
age at the Smithsonian Institution.
The masks were returned recently
to descendants of the people who
probably wore the masks in dance
ceremonies before Europeans
reached their shores.
"These are extremely rare," said
John Johnson, Cultural Resource
Manager for Chugach Alaska Corp.
"They're the only known masks in
the Chugach Natives' possession."
Reclaiming the large wooden masks
from a warehouse in Virginia was a
career highlight for Johnson. His job
includes securing the return of bod
ies and artifacts taken from burial
caves in the 19th and 20th centuries.
"What really got me going was
when I'd go to these caves, rock shel
ters the Elders would tell me it was
a traditional burial area and I go in
there and they'd be entirely empty,"
What really got me going was when I'd go to these caves,
rock shelters the Elders would tell me it was a traditional
burial area and I go in there and they'd be entirely empty.
John Johnson, Cultural Resource Manager
Chugach Alaska Corp.
said Johnson.
All the valuables the masks, the
artifacts, even the dead had been
removed by anthropologists and col
lectors. The masks were sold in 1875 to the
Alaska Commercial Company.
A company ledger shows an ex
pense of $12 "for securing masks and
mummies" on Sept. 28, 1875.
All seven masks prominently bear
the company name in neat white
script near the mouth.
"They got a little carried away writ
ing on them," Johnson said.
Six are on temporary display at the
Anchorage Museum of History and Art.
The Chugach sometimes called
Aleut have few artifacts compared
with other Alaska Native people,
Johnson said. Objects made from
wood simply don't last long in wet
weather, he said.
What did survive often was re
moved by anthropologists and trea
sure seekers. But because they were
taken to places such as the Smith
sonian, they also were preserved,
Johnson said.
"They kind of helped us out, indi
rectly." A 1990 federal law, the Native
American Graves Protection and Re
patriation Act, makes it easier for
Natives to recover the bones and
funerary objects of their ancestors.
The seven masks repatriated from
the Smithsonian appear to have been
dance masks, Johnson said.
They have wooden bits and straps
used to hold them to the dancer's
face. Nostrils served as peepholes,
and traces of color on the back ap
pear to have come from dancers' face
paint.
"I think a lot of these masks were
used in ceremonies for hunting, to
have good luck hunting," said
Johnson.
Carbon dating suggests the wood
in the masks is 200 to 300 years old.
Getting the masks back is impor
tant to a cultural revival in the area,
Johnson said. "They've (Tribal El
ders) used pictures of the seven
masks to guide their woodcarving,
but there's no substitute for seeing
the real thing, said Johnson.
"We didn't realize how big they
are," he said.
Funding for Dine College overlooked
. SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP) A new Dine College campus in Shiprock may
have to wait because requested federal funding did not come through.
A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) says requested fund
ing involving more than $20 million in startup costs for a campus scientific
center is a dead issue for the 2001 federal fiscal year.
The proposed funding for a Native Nations Southwest Research Labora
tory never evolved as part of any appropriations bill in either the Energy
or Interior departments, Domenici spokesman Joe Trujillo said.
This means the earliest funding could be approved for the laboratory
would be fiscal year 2002, if a bill containing it is successful next fall.
That funding would not be available until February 2002, were it to be
approved as part of a future bill, Trujillo said.
Both Domenici and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) have expressed sup
port for the project.
The Native Nations Southwest Research Laboratory is a concept to use
high-speed data links around the world to help conduct research in en
ergy, environmental science, computer science, engineering and medicine.
D The proposed funding for a Native Nations
Southwest Research Laboratory never
evolved as part of any appropriations bill
in either the Energy or Interior departments.
"We had a
long list of re
quests early
on, and we
asked for it," Trujillo said. "It never made it past the first stage."
Bingaman spokesman Jim Bonham was less ready to say funding for
the laboratory is dead at this point.
"I wouldn't go that far on it, but they (Republican appropriation commit
tee members) are going to know better than us. In the end game, it's not
coming up anywhere."
A groundbreaking ceremony for the Shiprock campus was held June 2,
but the construction has yet to begin.
Shiprock campus project manager Cindy Bates refused comment on what
has delayed the first phase of the new campus.
First phase funding amounts to $4.2 million, contributed by the Navajo
Nation, a state general obligation bond passed in 1998, and the American
Indian College Fund.