What to do With the Old Bones
A long and contentious debate:
WASHINGTON - Scientists hoping to study the ancient skeleton known as Kennewick Man are protesting efforts that they say could block them from examining one of the oldest and most complete set of bones ever found in North America.
For the third time in four years, the scientists oppose a Senate bill that would allow federally recognized tribes to claim ancient remains even if they can’t prove a link to a current tribe.
They also are contesting draft regulations issued by the Bush administration on disposal of culturally unaffiliated remains.
Both measures could end up with the same result, scientists say: preventing an improved understanding of North American history and the role of the continent’s first inhabitants.
If adopted, the proposed changes could “result in a world heritage disaster of unprecedented proportions” and “rob our descendants of the unique insights concerning the shared heritage of all people that physical anthropological studies of culturally unidentifiable human remains can provide,” the American Association of Physical Anthropologists said in a statement.
Supporters call such concerns overblown. They say the changes are intended to clarify the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, also known as NAGPRA, to ensure that federally recognized tribes can safeguard the graves of their ancestors.
As regards Kennewick man - from what I have gathered over the years, the tribes fighting the examination of the bones are doing so in the service of various politically correct myths about the people living in the Americas when Columbus came ashore. It seems that Kennewick man isn’t related to anyone currently living in North America, and thus might represent the real first inhabitants of North America, thus making all that kerfuffle over “Native American” rather academic, because no one living today could claim descent from the first - and thus indigenous - people of the Americas. A lot of effort has been invested in the bogus story that the people here when Columbus arrived lived some sort of idyllic life completely in harmony with everyone and everything. Given that the people living here then were, well, people, anyone with the sense that God gave little, white mice knows that such a story isn’t just false, but laughably false…but never let it be said that the people who enforce political correctness are cleverer than little, white mice.
As for the scientists who want to study the remains - well, they’re just being science types and they want to poke and prod these remains in order to discover everything they can about them so that they can then get a really cool Nova documentary done about them.
Both sides are being rather foolish about the whole issue - no person can have rational objection to a scientific study of remains which cannot be identified and tied to persons currently living. Kennewick man lived many thousands of years ago, he appears to not be genetically related to anyone currently living, so a thorough study of the remains is entirely within bounds. On the other hand, Kennewick man was, after all is said and done, a human being - a unique and uniquely valuable creation of God, and thus his remains must be treated with proper respect. What that means is that once the science types have got a good look at him and taken some samples for study, the remains should be re-interred as close to the original burial place as is practical. This way the claims of science and the claims of humanity are both satisfied. There is, in my view, something just horribly wrong in putting a human being on display in a museum - who ever buried Kennewick man wasn’t thinking strange people in the future would put him on display.
Discover, exhume, study, re-inter. That is the way to do it, in my view. What do you think?
32 comments December 2nd, 2007
