http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ennewick_man_2
Skeleton Case Challeges ' Native American'
Wed Sep 10,10:55 PM ET Add Science - AP to My Yahoo!
By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Ore. - With both sides clashing over the definition of " Native American," an appeals court heard arguments Wednesday on whether a 9,300-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man belongs to scientists or Indian tribes.
The Interior Department has been fighting with scientists over control of the bones since they were discovered in 1996 along the banks of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Wash.
Anthropologists want to do research on the skeleton. But then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt ruled three years ago the bones should be handed over to the tribes for reburial. Last October, U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks overturned Babbitt and approved research on the bones.
Jelderks agreed with arguments by scientists who said there was no direct link between the skeleton and modern tribes.
The government and the tribes appealed, and argued their case on Wednesday before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites).
The definition of " Native American" is at issue because of differing interpretations of a 1990 federal law aimed at returning Indian remains to tribes and discouraging illegal trafficking in bones or artifacts taken from burial sites.
The law defines Native American as someone " indigenous to the United States."
Judge Susan Graber asked whether the definition could cover any bones found in North America that were so old they rivaled the age of ancient fossils.
" Yes, they would be considered Native American," said Ellen Durkee, a Justice Department (news - web sites) attorney representing the Interior Department.
But Paula Barran, attorney for the scientists, argued that Congress in its definition did not intend to include people who lived that long ago.
She said the law was not intended to block scientific research to determine how ancient settlers arrived in North America.
Kennewick Man drew scientific interest because it is one of the oldest, most complete skeletons found in North America, with characteristics unlike modern Indians.
In his ruling last October, Jelderks said the term " Native American" requires " a cultural relationship" with a modern tribe to qualify under the 1990 law. He said his review of court documents, including scientific reports, produced no evidence to support any cultural link between Kennewick Man and the Northwest tribes seeking reburial.
The appeals court is not expected to rule until next year. Attorneys for both sides said they expect further appeals whatever the ruling.
How can we now rationalize all the freebies?
