Scientist Seeks Talks Over Kennewick Man He Hopes Tribes Will Allow Limited Tests Of Skeleton Dated As 9,300 Years Old

The first scientist to study the 9,300-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man says he welcomes discussions by Indian tribes that could lead to limited additional testing of the remains.

Representatives from five tribes that have previously demanded that the skeleton be reburied met privately here Thursday to discuss whether to formally support nondestructive testing.

It was unclear after the meeting whether the tribes reached any decision.

Representatives of the Colville, Nez Perce, Yakama, Umatilla and Wanapum did not return messages left at their offices Thursday.

James Chatters, a forensic anthropologist who studied the bones after they were discovered last year along the Columbia River in Kennewick, said Thursday the talks were a sign that the tribes and scientists may be able to reach some consensus on what to do with the remains.

“It’s encouraging that they’re willing to consider and may ultimately accept a scientific approach here,” Chatters said. “That is really something different than what we’ve been hearing in the past few months.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has custody because the bones were found in the Columbia River, was poised to grant the tribes’ request for reburial when a group of eight prominent scientists sued the corps for the right to study the bones.

They said initial tests showed the bones were too old to be linked to present day peoples, at least without more study. The remains are believed to be the oldest and most complete human skeleton found in the Northwest.

The corps is keeping the skeleton in a box in Richland while its fate is determined.

The tribes are considering requesting tests that could determine whether the skeleton is American Indian or Caucasoid, The Oregonian newspaper reported Thursday.

“It’s just a really uncomfortable idea to subject this individual to testing,” Marla Big Boy, an attorney for the Colvilles, told the Portland newspaper. “It’s taken about a year for the tribal people to really think about it and digest it.”

Tribes consider the remains to be an ancestor who must be reburied quickly.

A determination on whether the skeleton is Indian or Caucausoid could help the corps respond to a federal judge’s inquiries about whether the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act applies to the remains.

Corps spokesman Dutch Meier said Thursday the agency would have to review any tribal request for testing before it would be allowed.

“It would be way too early to make a decision about that at all,” Meier said from the corps’ regional headquarters in Walla Walla. “We would certainly have to hear from them first to get a clear indication what their position would be.”

In his examination of the bones, Chatters noted Caucasoid features, including a long, narrow face, a slight overbite and a prominent Kirk Douglas-type chin.

He labeled the skeleton as an early white settler, until he found an ancient spear point in the hip. Subsequent carbon-dating determined the remains were actually 93 centuries old.

That raised the possibility that the earliest humans in the region may not have been related to the ancestors of modern Indian tribes.

Another group practicing what it calls a pre-Christian European religion also has sued for access to Kennewick Man. The Asatru Folk Assembly wants to bury the skeleton as an ancestor if he is determined to be an ancient European who migrated from Siberia to North America over the Bering land bridge.