On Thursday, January 13, 2000, Frank McManamon, Chief Archaeologist for the National Park Service and Chief Consulting Archaeologist for the Department of the Interior, announced that the studies of the human skeletal remains known as "Kennewick Man" had been completed and that the results indicated that the skeleton is between 9,320 and 9,510 years old and therefore Native American, and thus subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
This was a foregone conclusion on their part.
In a letter to the Corps of Engineers dated December 23, 1997, the National Park Service said that the remains would be subject to NAGPRA if the remains were discovered or excavated from Federal or tribal lands after November 16, 1990 (and they were) and if the remains are of a person of Native American ancestry. NAGPRA defines a person of Native American ancestry as "of, or relating to, a tribe, people, or culture that is indigenous to the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii." This letter was direct instructions to the Army Corps of Engineers from the National Park Service on what to do about Kennewick Man, and it is worth quoting:
Letter from the National Park Service
We base these views primarily on the statutory definition of the term "Native American," which is defined in 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9), and in the NAGPRA implementing regulations at 43 CFR 10.2 (d) as meaning "of, or relating to, a tribe, people, or culture that is indigenous to the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii." We consider this definition clear and self-explanatory. We also note that NAGPRA's legislative history contains no express amplification or clarification of the term.The court in this matter, however, indicated in its opinion that there may be an issue as to the meaning of the term "Native American" because of the word "indigenous" contained in this definition.
Particularly, the court queries in footnote 24 whether the term "Native American" as defined in NAGPRA may be limited by the word "indigenous" to not include tribes, peoples, or cultures that "descended from immigrants who came to the Americas from other continents."
In our view, however, it is implausible to consider that Congress intended for the word "indigenous" to limit the term "Native American" in this manner. Rather, we consider that the term "Native American" is clearly intended by NAGPRA to encompass all tribes, peoples, and cultures that were residents of the lands comprising the United States prior to historically-documented European exploration of these lands.
So Who Exactly is a 'Native American'?
Of course, by all known scientific information, every single individual here in the United States, Native American or otherwise, is descended from immigrants who came to the Americas from other continents. And, also according to NAGPRA, by definition of his being found in the United States, and dated before 1492, Kennewick Man is Native American.The problem is fundamental. The government (all governments) would like a nice, tidy definition of ethnicity; but all of the scientific research in the last decades of the 20th century have told us that ethnicity is not tidy little categories. Yes, there are genetic markers that show up in some population groups, but they also show up in groups who don't define themselves in similar ways. Ethnicity is determined by cultural definitions, not scientific ones.
As scientists, most archaeologists realize that the only way we can understand what being "Native American" means--in other words, how the Americas got populated, from what donor populations are they an amalgamation--is by studying the ancient skeletal remains. Native Americans don't have that problem, and some tribes and some government departments don't care that scientists don't understand it.
To Whom Should the Remains be Repatriated?
The next step would have been the truly difficult one. To whom should the Kennewick Man skeletal remains be repatriated? Which modern day tribe is the direct descendant of Kennewick Man? At the present time, five tribes, the Umatilla, Colville, Wanapum, Nez Perce and Yakama have all claimed the human remains as their ancestor. Will DNA tests be performed and will they provide adequate data to determine tribal affiliation? And if the results don't provide adequate data, how in the world will this situation be resolved?Kennewick Man Table of Contents | Part 5: What does "PreClovis" Mean? | Part 6: How NAGPRA Affects Kennewick Man | Part 7: Science, Religion, and Politics
