Kennewick Man’S Bones To Return

Fri., Jan. 29, 1999

From Staff

Federal agents plan to retrieve bone fragments from a California laboratory and reunite them with the ancient skeleton of Kennewick Man.

At stake is the scientific integrity of what could be the sole remaining bones of Kennewick Man that have not been contaminated, said David Glenn Smith, head of the Molecular Archaeology Program at the University of California at Davis.

The fragments were sent to him in October 1996 for DNA tests to help determine whether there is a relationship to modern man. But those tests were stopped by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers although the school kept the bones.

In a Jan. 24 letter to the school, Justice Department lawyer Allison Rumsey made it clear all the bone fragments must be returned to the government.

“While I cannot agree to your proposals that Dr. Smith keep the fragment or complete his work at this time, I can reassure him that the fragment’s scientific value will be protected and it will remain safe and uncontaminated,” Rumsey said.

A federal attorney will pick up the fragments Tuesday and fly them to Seattle’s Burke Museum at the University of Washington, where the rest of the 9,300-year-old skeleton has been held since October.

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