

The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets - bdevine
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/history/kennewick-man-finally-freed-share-his-secrets-180952462/?all

======
bdevine
Summary: About 15,000 years ago, sea-faring people made their way from what is
now Japan along the North Pacific rim to what is now the First Nations region.
It was only later that the Bering land bridge migration occurred, those
peoples integrating with the first settlers. This article offers a fascinating
look into the intersection of cutting-edge archeology and tribal/governmental
politics.

If anybody has any insight into the Corps of Engineer's behavior that was
discussed in the article, I'd love to hear it.

~~~
cjensen
The Corps of Engineers was attempting to obey US Law which presumes that any
pre-Columbian remains belong to the local tribes who have complete say over
what happens to the remains. The local tribes claim the skeleton is their
ancestor, and want it buried instead of defiled.

I'm ambivalent. This is very important science, but it comes at a cost of
stomping on Native American rights.

~~~
rmtew
Did you read the article?

The only reason this information took so long to become available, was because
scientists had to fight to prove that the provenance of the bones was not
Native American. And the article states that the bones are more closely
related to the moriori, as it turns out after the study happened more than 10
years later. So no stomping.. This is something that was required to be proved
before the bones became Native American property to dispose of by law. The
Corp's actions as described by this article, look unethical and against the
interests of the American people (and for that matter mine, as a non-
American).

There is no reason to believe that there is any stomping on any rights, except
the rights of people not to have to make hollow gestures, in order to appease
an aggrieved people. At least, that is how the article portrays it.

~~~
rayiner
The article takes a very biased view of the situation. Look at it from the
perspective of the Indians. They don't give a shit about our scientific
understanding. To them, this is the equivalent of digging up grandpa and
putting him on display in a museum. Their religion says they have been there
since the beginning of time, so to them these ancient bones are their
ancestors. The very process of conducting this study is odious to them.

This isn't just a hollow gesture. The Indians have certain special rights and
privilege by virtue of their history, and the federal government has a legal
duty to protect their special interests. The federal government is essentially
required to take the Indians' side in a dispute like this one.

~~~
CamperBob2
Also, the Indians have a big incentive not to allow any scientific inquiry
that might disprove their claim to "First Nations" status.

This is a cynical way to look at the issue, but I don't see why it's not
valid.

~~~
rayiner
At least for the American Indians, not much depends on their claim of being
"first nations." Their legal relationship with the U.S. is defined by virtue
of their occupancy of the United States at the time of the founding and
subsequent expansion of the country, and our displacement of them, and their
formal agreements with the United States during that period. I don't think
anything would change for them if it was proven that someone else was in the
U.S. first.

------
dangayle
Once the courts had ruled, why didn't/doesn't the Corps cooperate with the
scientists, e.g., letting them study the actual spear tip? At that point, they
have nothing to lose.

In fact, if they simply handed the bones off to the Smithsonian or whoever,
they could've washed their hands of the whole thing. The fact that they didn't
do so indicates to me that they wanted to hold onto the bones as a bargaining
chip with the native tribes.

------
a8da6b0c91d
If you're feeling silly and want to waste a couple hours, read about the
nephilim giant skeletons of north america. It's some top notch crazy X-Files
entertainment.

There are thousands of accounts and plenty of photographs of ancient unearthed
9ft tall skeletons in north america. Allegedly the smithsonian has a bunch of
them but won't let people look at them.

[http://monessasmontage.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/jim-
vieira-p...](http://monessasmontage.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/jim-vieira-
presentation-on-ancient-stone-structures-in-new-england/)

[http://tnephilim.blogspot.com/2012/01/giant-human-
nephilim-i...](http://tnephilim.blogspot.com/2012/01/giant-human-nephilim-in-
north-american.html)

