Seattle Times Editorial: USG should back research on corpses like Kennewick Man
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne should reject a proposal that would foreclose the ability of scientists to shed light on American prehistory.
Proposed new rules likely would preclude the examination of remains such as the 9,300-year-old Kennewick Man, found on federal land along the Columbia River in 1996. Tribes no longer would have to prove a connection to the remains beyond the coincidence the remains were found on their ancestral lands, despite prolific evidence of the widespread migration of early people. The new rules clearly attempt to subvert the 2002 federal court ruling that unequivocally gave prominent scientists the right to study the remains and rejected faith-based claims of Columbia Basin tribes that Kennewick Man was their direct ancestor.
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Proposed new rules likely would preclude the examination of remains such as the 9,300-year-old Kennewick Man, found on federal land along the Columbia River in 1996. Tribes no longer would have to prove a connection to the remains beyond the coincidence the remains were found on their ancestral lands, despite prolific evidence of the widespread migration of early people. The new rules clearly attempt to subvert the 2002 federal court ruling that unequivocally gave prominent scientists the right to study the remains and rejected faith-based claims of Columbia Basin tribes that Kennewick Man was their direct ancestor.