Kennewickman

Smith 1 Erin Smith Dr. Rolland ANT 220 A F 5 October 2009 Response to Kennewick Man The video was the first time I had heard about the Kennewick Man and I was struck by how well-preserved the skeleton was and the questions its discovery created. I’ve always been interested in archaeological and anthropological discoveries and mysteries and the complications brought forth in the Kennewick Man case are fascinating. The facial construction was really fascinating, especially the Kennewick Man reconstruction’s striking similarity to Patrick Stewart. While the reconstructions aren’t exact, they do give a good general impression of how the person appeared while alive. However, I was not impressed by the NAGPRA, the Umatilla, and other Native American tribes. Their complete disregard for scientific research and study left me with distaste, no matter what the reason. This is due to the cultural differences between how I was raised in Western cultural and how Native Americans are raised in their culture. I was taught from a very young age that it is immoral and disrespectful to break, desecrate, or cut off any item or archaeological site from study and research. On the reverse side of the argument, Native Americans are taught to revere their ancestors and to treat their remains with respect. This creates conflict between each cultural group. While one believes that scientific study and the advancement of knowledge is important, the other believes that is is more important to treat the remains of their ancestors with respect. The debate continues as to who owns what is in the ground and it is unlikely to stop anytime soon.

Smith 2 However, in the case of the Kennewick Man, science won and the remains are still available for research. Science won because there was not enough proof that the Kennewick Man was a distant relative of Native Americans, as he had Caucasoid features that were more akin to the Ainu of Japan than Mongoloid features found in most Native Americans descended from the Clovis culture. There are two theories account for the lack of Caucasoid features in modern Native Americans, genetic drift and genetic flow, two evolutionary theories. Genetic drift states that there are random changes in how often a gene appears in a isolated population, due more to chance than natural selection. This happens when two different cultures interbreed, but only one genetic make-up survives. Genetic flow, however, is the transfer of genes from one population to another, essentially that genes mix. The discussion about the genetic evolution of the early hunter-gather cultures in America also leads to contemplation about conflict between early hunter-gather cultures. Many of the skeletons with Caucasoid features found in the Americas had injuries found all over their bodies, suggesting that life in the early Americans was difficult. In the end, however, while archaeologists label the physical differences, it is important to remember that all traits and definitions of the labels are created by archaeologists themselves- “the pencil typology” as described by Harold Dibble. All are part of the same continuum, just in different parts.