Interior Opinion: Studying Skeleton Allowed But Corps Has Long Way To Go To End Battle Over Kennewick Man

A top government archaeologist has told the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that scientific study of Kennewick Man is permissible to determine if the skeleton is an American Indian.

The opinion from Interior Department archaeologist Francis P. McManamon was included in the corps’ quarterly report filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland, where a 14-month court battle is being waged over the 9,300-year-old bones.

The corps took custody of the skeleton after it was found in 1996 along the Columbia River near Kennewick, citing the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Northwest tribes consider the skeleton an ancestor and want the remains reburied.

But eight prominent scientists sued for the opportunity to study the archaeologically valuable remains.

A small Nordic religious group also is suing for the right to study and rebury the remains as their ancestor.

Initial analysis of the skull indicated Caucasoid features different from those of current Indians in the region.

In June, U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks ruled that the corps acted prematurely in deciding to turn the bones over to the tribes, voided the corps’ decision and ordered the federal agency to reassess the case.

Linda Kirts, legal counsel for the corps’ Walla Walla District, said her agency has made no decision on whether scientific study should be conducted.

But Kirts said Lt. Col. Donald Curtis, head of the Walla Walla District, will take McManamon’s interpretation of the federal law into consideration when he makes his decision about what to do with the skeleton.

She said Curtis still must decide whether the remains are American Indian, whether the federal repatriation law applies, and to which tribe - if any - the remains should go.

Paula Barran, attorney for the scientists, said she was disappointed that the government still seems far from making a decision.

“It’s maybe time to ask the court if the judge can impose some deadlines,” Barran said.

McManamon also said he thinks the law applies to all human remains and cultural items from before the time European explorers arrived, regardless of their origin - something Barran said the scientists dispute.

McManamon also said he doesn’t think congressional action is needed to clarify the issues.

In the corps’ letter to the court, attorneys also identified what they hoped to do before the next report is due to the court in early April.

That includes defining “information necessary to determine the ethnic background of the remains” and continuing dialogue on the “utility and possibility of nondestructive examination of the remains.”

The bones remain in a vault at the government’s Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland.