Ruling Allows Scientists to See Kennewick Man Before Burial

A federal judge ordered Friday that before five Northwest Indian tribes can hold sacred burial services for a 9,300-year-old skeleton discovered near Kennewick, Wash., the bones should be handed over to a group of scientists who want to get a closer look at him.

Known as Kennewick Man, the skeleton was found by a pair of boat racers on the banks of the Columbia River in July 1996. A preliminary exam showed he was almost completely intact, save for a few missing molars.

Eight scientists filed suit to conduct further studies, saying Kennewick Man may reveal that humans arrived in North America by way of a land bridge from Asia.

Friday’s decision by U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks overturned last year’s decision by the Department of the Interior that said oral history showed the skeleton to be a sacred ancestor known as “The Ancient One” to the Colville, Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce and Wanapum tribes. Under that decision, the bones are protected under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 1990, which says remains found on aboriginal lands of a modern tribe must be given to the tribe.

But in his ruling, Jelderks wrote that there was “nothing I have found in a careful examination of the administrative record” that would support the government’s decision to deny a scientific examination.

“Allowing study is fully consistent with applicable statutes and regulations, which are clearly intended to make archeological information available to the public through scientific research,” he wrote.

Dana Perino, spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said government attorneys would have to review the ruling before they could comment.

As for the scientists, they were eager to assert that the desire to look at Kennewick Man is purely scientific.

“I’m sure Native Americans see it differently, but this suit was against the government, not the Indian tribes,” said anthropologist Richard Jantz at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and one of the eight scientists.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.