Kennewick Man

Unresolved Qustions

But the Kennewick man problem isn't that simple; he represents a part of a problem which archaeologists have yet to solve. For the past thirty years or so, we've believed that the peopling of the American continent took place around 12,000 years ago, in three separate waves, from three separate parts of the world. But recent evidence has begun to indicate a vastly more complicated settlement pattern, a steady influx of small groups from different parts of the world, and probably somewhat earlier than we had assumed. Some of these groups lived, some may have died out. We just don't know; and Kennewick Man was considered too important a piece of the puzzle for archaeologists to let him go unanalyzed without a fight. Eight scientists sued for the right to study the Kennewick materials prior to their reburial. In September 1998, a judgment was reached, and the bones were sent to a Seattle museum on Friday, October 30th, to be studied.

That wasn't the end of it of course. It took a protracted legal debate until researchers were allowed access to the Kennewick Man materials in 2005, and results finally began to reach the public in 2006.

The political battles over the Kennewick man were framed in a large part by people who want to know to what "race" he belongs. Yet, the evidence reflected in the Kennewick materials is further proof that race is not what we think it is. The Kennewick man, and most of the Paleo-Indian and archaic human skeletal materials that we've found to date are not "Indian," nor are they "European." They don't fit into ANY category that we define as a "race." Those terms are meaningless in prehistory as long ago as 9,000 years--and in fact, if you want to know the truth, there are NO clearcut scientific definitions of "race."

Kennewick Man Series: Table of Contents

• Part 1: Background and Introduction
• Part 2: What is a "Caucasoid"?
• Part 3: Is the Kennewick Man "Caucasoid"?
• Part 4: How Were the American Continents Populated?
• Part 5: Who was "Pre-Clovis"?
• Part 6: How NAGPRA Affects Kennewick Man
• Part 7: Science, Religion, and Politics
• Part 8: The Jelderks Decision
• Part 9: Latest News
• Bibliographies and Websites for Further Information