Battle Over Ancient Bones Will Continue

Scientists and a Caucasian religious group can continue to press their claims for a 9,000-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man, a federal magistrate ruled Monday.

U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks refused to dismiss the lawsuits, which challenge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ efforts to dispose of the skeleton.

Federal officials argued Monday morning in U.S. District Court that the cases should be dismissed because the corps has not yet determined whether the ancient human remains should be given to an Indian tribe for burial.

But lawyers for a group of prominent anthropologists and the Asatru Folk Assembly argued that by invoking the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the corps made a decision the bones were Indian and shut out any non-tribal claims.

That, the scientists claim, was racial discrimination.

“What we have here is a preliminary decision by the government that these are Native American remains - anyone with white skin need not apply,” the scientists’ attorney, Paula Barran, told the magistrate.

The Asatru spiritual group, which dates back to pre-Christian times in Europe, and the scientists both want detailed study of the remains to determine whether the skeleton has European or Indian roots.

James Chatters, a forensic paleolithic archaeologist, has found numerous Caucasian-like features on the skull, as well as a cascade spear point inside the skeleton’s pelvis, the Asatru’s attorney, Michael Clinton, said before the hearing.

Chatters believes Kennewick man was probably killed by someone of Eastern Asian ancestry, Clinton said.

The skeleton now lies in a private curator facility in Walla Walla.

Kennewick Man’s skull was discovered last July in the Columbia River by two men watching the Kennewick hydroplane races. The county coroner and Chatters then discovered the rest of the skeleton in the bank, and used water to extract it.

It was apparently at that point that the corps sent notices to tribes likely to be culturally affiliated with the bones. That’s when the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, the Nez Perce tribe, the Colville Confederated Tribes, the Wanapum Band and the Yakama Indian Nation filed their claims to the skeleton.

Then the corps published in the Tri-City Herald newspaper of Kennewick, Wash., a notice that it intended to return the remains to the tribes. In response, other groups filed claims for the skeleton.

The notice was a preliminary decision and the lawsuits were premature, U.S. Department of Justice attorney Daria Zane argued Monday.

If the corps determined none of the tribes is culturally affiliated with the bones, the scientists could make their claim, she told the court.