Kennewick Man is the name for the skeletal remains of a prehistoric (Paleo-Indian) man found on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, USA, on July 28, 1996. The discovery of Kennewick Man was accidental; a pair of spectators (Will Thomas and David Deacy) found his skull while attending the annual hydroplane races.[1]
One of the most complete ancient skeletons ever found, bone tests have shown the skeleton to be somewhere between 5650 and 9510 years old. These findings triggered a nine-year legal clash between scientists, the American government and Native American tribes who claim Kennewick Man as their ancestor. The long dispute has made him an international celebrity.
In February 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a cultural link between any of the Native American tribes and the Kennewick Man was not genetically justified, allowing scientific study of the remains to continue.[2]
[...]
At the University of California at Riverside, a small bone fragment was subjected to radiocarbon dating. This fixed the age of the skeleton at approximately 9,300 years (8,400 uncalibrated "radiocarbon years"), not the nineteenth century, as had originally been assumed.[4] After studying the bones, Chatters concluded they belonged to a Caucasoid male about 68 inches (173 cm) tall who had died in his mid fifties.[4]
Chatters found that bone had partially grown around a 79 mm (3.1 in) stone projectile lodged in the ilium, part of the pelvic bone.[6] On x-ray, nothing appeared. Chatters put the bone through a CT scan, and it was discovered the projectile was made from a siliceous gray stone that was found to have igneous (intrusive volcanic) origins.[6] The projectile was leaf-shaped, long, broad and had serrated edges, all fitting the definition of a Cascade point. This type of point is a feature of the Cascade phase, which occurred roughly 7,500 to 12,000 years ago.[6]
Anthropologist Joseph Powell of the University of New Mexico was also allowed to examine the remains and his conclusions were contradictory. Powell used craniometric data obtained by anthropologist William White Howells of Harvard University and anthropologist Tsunehiko Hanihara (Japanese:埴原恒彦) of Saga University that had the "advantage" of including data drawn from "Asia" and "North America" populations.[8] Powell said that Kennewick Man was not European but most resembled the "Ainu"[4] and "Polynesians".[8] Powell said that the "Ainu" descend from the Jōmon people who are an "east Asian" population with "closest biological affinity with south-east Asians rather than western Eurasian peoples".[9] Furthermore, Powell said that dental analysis showed the skull had a "94 percent" chance of being a "Sundadont" group like the "Ainu" and "Polynesians" and only a "48 percent" chance of being a "Sinodont" group like that of "north Asia".[8] Powell said analysis of the skull showed it to be "unlike American Indians and Europeans".[8] Powell concluded that Kennewick man "is clearly not a Caucasoid" unless "Ainu" and "Polynesians" are considered "Caucasoid".[9]
Chatters et al. conducted a graphic comparison, including size, of Kennewick Man to 18 modern populations and showed Kennewick Man was most closely related to the Ainu. However, when size was excluded as a factor, no association to any population was established.[4] Chatters said that anthropologist C. Loring Brace classified "Ainu" and "Polynesians" as a single "craniofacial" "Jomon-Pacific cluster" and Chatters said "Polynesians" have "craniofacial" similarities to "Asian, Australian and European peoples".[8]
In a publication about Kennewick Man, anthropologist Glynn Custred of California State University East Bay said "expert on Asian populations" "physical anthropologist" C. Loring Brace of University of Michigan" believed "people related to the Jomon" came before the "modern Indian" and that "two varieties of American Indian" arose from the former being "absorbed" by the latter with the "Plains Indian" resembling the older group.[4]
The biological diversity among ancient skulls in the Americas has further complicated attempts to establish how closely Kennewick Man is related to any modern Native American tribes.[4] Skulls older than 8,000 years old have been found to possess greater physical diversity than do those of modern Native Americans. This range implies that there was a genetic shift in populations about 8,000 years ago. The heterogeneity of these early people shows that genetic drift had already occurred, meaning the racial type represented by Kennewick Man had been in existence for a considerable period of time.[4]
