More Bones of Contention

A fresh twist in the saga of Kennewick Man, the apparently caucasoid 9,000 year old skeleton who modern Indian tribes want to claim as their own, and thus prevent scientists from scrutinizing. According to this AP report, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed any scientific study temporarily, with further arguments and, presumably, a final decision later in the spring. My account in Reason of scientists' first victory in their multi-year fight to examine the skeleton over federal law that implies all such remains are tribal property is here`

Comments

[Steve]

"Damn you all to hell!!!" or was that "Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!!"

[Anonymous]

Yes we don't want anyone to know that there is a very big chance the native americans were not peaceful nature-worshippers but may have slaughtered the existing population more throughly than the white man. This MUST be put in the memory hole!

[The Mountain Goat]

I believe another ten thousand year old caucasion was found recently in a receding glacier, but in Canada this time. Althought for most purposes Canada is the U.S., it isn't subject to George Bush Sr's law about protecting native american burial sites. So maybe we can investigate this one?

Imagine if the native americans were caucasions, and were killed by invading mongrels?

[Madog]

There've been some sites found in South America that are older than any in North America. The skeletons found appear to be similiar to Austrailian Aboriginies (who at the time ranged from India to southern China). It's a bit of a mystery how they go there, since no one reached any of the pacific islands until much more recently. There've also been some more recent tools and burial sites that look more similiar to those found during the same period in spain, rather than Asia. It's possible that Aboriginie-like people reached the America first, followed by early Europeans, then followed by the Asian ancestors of modern Native Americans. If you look at the range of people native to the america, there's a lot of variation for a people supposedly derived from a single migration from Asia.

[joe]

Testing of Egyptian mummies has shown traces of cocaine and tobacco, which never grew in Africa. Transatlantic and transpacific migrations and trade are a lot older than we've been led to believe.

[Steve]

joe & everyone else:

Be very careful here. You are treading on "holy" political and social ground here. Kinda like questioning evolution. If the "peaceful" "Native Americans" are exposed as anything other than nature-loving peace freaks, it could lead to a slippery slope in which your basic middle aged white male is no longer viewed evil incarnate. what kind of world would THAT be.

[Brian]

"All my life I've awaited your coming, and dreaded it." - Dr. Zaius

[The Mountain Goat]

But if Kennewick man is a white boy, then... let me get my figgerin' strait... then I'm a native American? Not looking to go too far off the reservation here, but does that mean I should be selling those tax-free cigarettes and running those casinos?

[joe]

It isn't questioning evolution that places science about people's holy irrationality, Steve. It's accepting it.

[Jimmy Antley]

Make no bones about it, that Kennewick man is a white boy. Unless he's from across the river in Pasco, in which case he's probably Mexican - I don't think they even speak English in Pasco anymore.

[Anonymous]

The ongoing saga of Kennewick Man hits close to home here in British Columbia where over 150% of the landmass is presently being claimed by nearly 100 different Native bands. The intransigence of the Indians in this case (Kennewick)is indicative of either a fundamental break with reality and the forces of reason or a shameless ploy to bolster their claims of aboriginal title.
I suppose that it makes better political and economic sense to believe that one's ancestors leapt from a clam shell or crawled out of the ground than to entertain notions of human migration that do not support one's claims of proprietary rights to the land and its resources.